Card Captor Harry, Season Two
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Summary: It's Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. There are new challenges to face, new dangers to escape, puberty to deal with... Oh, and the Clow Cards are still loose. As life begins to take a different turn, can Harry maintain the tenuous balance he has found?
1. Of Friends, Old and New

A/N: And here we are! It is my great pleasure to launch the new season of Card Captor Harry! For those who've been following this, enjoy, sit back, and relax. For those who've only recently found this, this is a continuation of something else. The one that comes before this is in my profile page. Check it, and my other fics, out.

Enjoy!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 25, The Song: Of Friends, Old and New

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

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The minute they were through the door, she was all over him, shoving him against the wall and pressing him against it so hard he almost couldn't breathe. Harry James Evans Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Friend-of-House-Elves-Who-Want-to-be-Free, Sorcerer's Stone Protector, Basilisk Slayer, Dark Lord Frustrator, Gryffindor Seeker, Card Captor, all around nice guy, and hero of this little piece, began to sweat, as Hermione Granger leaned in towards his ear. "Take me now…" she said seductively…

**WHOOPS! WRONG FIC!**

The minute they were through the door, they were all over him, shoving him against the wall and pressing him against it so hard he almost couldn't breathe. Harry began to sweat, as Hermione leaned in with a slightly manic look in her eyes. "Well? Did you score? How often? TELL ME EVERYTHING!"

"Hello to you too Hermione," Harry said dryly. "Why yes, I did have a nice vacation abroad. The food was a little weird, but had a great time, saw some sights, and met a lot of nice people, none of whom seemed to be obsessed with sex."

As Ron snickered, Hermione tried to glare at Harry while pouting at the same time, and managed to look like a very annoyed fish. "You are being very difficult, Harry Potter," Hermione said. "How are we supposed to help you with your love life if you won't give us any relevant information?"

"This from two people who're still single," Harry shot back. "Because the only people I've seen you two with is each other. Unless…"

"HARRY!" Ron and Hermione chorused, going red.

Grinning widely, Harry managed to squeeze around them and headed towards where Ron had unceremoniously dropped off his trunk and—he winced– his laptop bag. He really hoped it was as tough as Syaoran had said it was.

Setting it to the side for the moment– despite the almost physical urge to open it and see if anything was broken– Harry started to unpack his trunk. Down below, they could hear Ginny give a shrill cry.

"And Winter nearly walks off the stairs yet again," Harry sighs as he pulls out his souvenirs. "Enjoy," he told Ron as he shoved an obscenely large bag overflowing with a mind-numbingly diverse array of chocolates into Ron's arms. As Ron stared at the shear sugary goodness of it all, Harry closed in on Hermione and, before she could react or protest, quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and clipped it together using a star-shaped hair ornament. "There. Something for you too."

Hermione, turned as if to look behind her, before reaching back and pulling of the ornament. "How come Ron gets a ton of chocolate?" Hermione said teasingly, turning the little star over between her fingers.

"Do you _want_ to get fat?" Harry asked.

"No, but I'd like the option," Hermione retorted.

The door opened just then, Ginny looking more than a little frazzled as Winter Moon followed in her wake, book in hand and half open.

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Dinner, held outdoors since they all couldn't fit inside, was wonderful. The food in Hong Kong had been unusual, but good, and the food they'd served on the airplane hadn't been as bad as he'd been led to believe, but at the taste of Mrs. Weasley's steak and kidney pie, he knew he was home

Between mouthfuls, he and Winter answered questions about what Hong Kong had been like. Harry let her handle their queries, concentrating on eating. Ah, bliss…

"– and then we ran into Lee and her family," Winter said, while Ron, Ginny and Hermione listened, the latter obviously taking mental notes. "Harry seemed very taken by Lee's sister. They were practically inseparable while we were there!"

Harry realized how bad that was when Hermione's ears practically perked up at those words, looking at him speculatively. Frantically, he swallowed. "It's not what it sounds! I was trying to make Lee mad and Meilin was willing to play along!"

"Ah, the jealousy ploy," Winter said knowingly. "You were trying to get Lee jealous so she'd pay more attention to you."

Behind her, Hermione raised her eyebrow at Harry in wry amusement.

Past them, Percy and Mr. Weasley were talking about work. "– the Chinese are being stubborn about cauldron standardization, and that we should be using glass beakers anyway," Percy was saying. "They say they're too busy to deal with cauldron bottoms when they still have to take care of cleaning up after that water spirit–"

Harry and Winter sat up straight at those words. It did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, that's right," Mr. Weasley said to them. "The two of you were there when that happened, weren't you?"

Harry and Winter did not look at one another as everyone's attention was focused on them. Nevertheless, the same thoughts passed through their heads, so similar they were practically having a telepathic conversation. _They weren't to mention the Madoushi. They weren't to mention their involvement. __**Definitely**__ not their involvement. Actually, best to deny knowing anything about it…_

Harry managed to finish thinking of BS first. "Is that what that was? The muggle news said that it was a series of freak waterspouts."

"I think we were asleep when it happened," Winter added.

"In separate rooms," Harry interrupted, glaring at Hermione, who looked disappointed. "What _did _happen?"

He relaxed as Percy, Hermione ,and the occasional kibitzer explained how a powerful water spirit ("One of the strange foreign dark creatures they have over there," Percy said loftily, while Bil roled his eyes behind him) had gone on a rampage, before disappearing ("They said it had been exorcised, although they wouldn't say how or by who," Hermione said), leaving people with no idea what had caused it or stopped it. "It happened right out in the open, in front of all the muggles and everything," Percy concluded.

"Waterspouts," Mr. Weasley said, shaking his head. "Waterspouts!"

"I read they almost finished dealing with it," Hermione said. "Luckily, no one was hurt."

"Yeah, lucky," Harry said.

"I can't believe we missed all that," Winter added.

As they dug inti the pudding (homemade strawberry ice-cream), Harry and Winter quite casually did _not_ look at each other, though both could practically feel the other's relief at having avoided mentioning their involvement. Still, as dessert-induced feelings of peace came over him, Harry had o wonder whether he should let Ron and Hermione in on things this year. It seemed… _wrong_… that they didn't.

Watching the gnomes running through the bushes away from Crookshanks, he resolved to talk to Kero about it…

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"You ate strawberry ice-cream without me?" Keroberos hissed at Harry, managing to convey a low-decibel outrage.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry hissed back, eyes darting about in the pre-dawn light, trying to see if anyone noticed how he was apparently talking to the inside of his jacket. Fortunately, everyone was too sleepy-eyed to be paying attention to him, more focused on watching the ground as they climbed Stoathead's hill. Hermione and Ginny occasionally had to wake up Winter, who sometimes fell asleep on her feet, settling on the dewy ground. "I couldn't get any for you, all right?"

Ker oglared at him, before settling back inside the jacket, muttering inaudibly. The Clow Book he'd Spellotaped to the inside back of his jacket bumped against the small of his back as he climbed, and he _really_ hoped it didn't fall off. He wouldn't want to answer those questions…

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Portkeys, Harry decided as he and the others followed Mr. Weasley towards their destination, sucked. Helping Mr Weasley pay Mr. Roberts, they went to their assigned plot. The unusual and occasionally absurdly lavish tents– turrets and peacocks? Really? – caught his eyes, and Winter's as well, and he could feel the magic flowing all around him, but Kero's pained muttering under his jacket was very distracting. Apparently he'd ended up under Harry when they'd landed. The little Guardian was stronger than he looked, but he wasn't about to let go of a good gripe.

Setting up the tent and getting ready took up most of the morning, and by the time they'd managed to cook lunch, Bill, Charlie and Percy had arrived. Halfway through the food, Mr. Weasley's friend Ludo Bagman and Percy's boss Mr. Crouch joined them.

Harry listened half-heartedly too all the office discussions and Percy's attempts to ingratiate himself to his boss. It was all interesting, but Kero was making a fuss inside his jacket, trying to get at a packet of sausages Harry had wrapped with a napkin. It was taking a lot of effort to keep the Sun Guardian away from the food. He had no intention of letting him eat in his jacket!

As Bagman and Crouch rose to leave, Harry suddenly found himself tackled from behind, much to everyone's surprise. "Harry!" his assailant cried, yelling practically in his ear as arms wrapped around his shoulders.

He froze, and his attacker took the opportunity to tighten their grip. That voice… he knew that voice…

"_Meilin_?" he and Winter said, as he turned his head to see a little better. A toothy smile grinned at him from past his shoulder, causing his blood to run cold.

He hadn't really been paying attention to those around, but with Meilin suddenly there, he felt more familiar presences as he concentrated. Very familiar…

Turning around a bit– difficult, since Meilin was practically hanging off his back– he found himself looking into a seething pair of wine-colored eyes. "Hey Lee," he greeted through his own toothy grin.

Lee Fei glared at him with an intensity to make her Head of House proud. The Slytherin showed teeth. "Potter," she said, the word laced with enough venom for a basilisk, in tones that made it sound like 'scum'.

The air thickened with tension the younger Weasleys and Hermione stepping back slightly as a precaution.

"Ah, Mr. Crouch. Someone said you would be here," a soft, composed voice said, dissolving the tension like lava on wax. Lee Yelan managed to look stately, regal and almost royal despite wearing hiking boots, blue jeans and a flannel shirt. Harry almost didn't notice Syaoran and his sisters behind her, wearing much the same. The other boy greeted him with a solemn nod, accompanied by a quick quirk of his lips that might have been a smile. It probably was.

Yelan turned towards Harry and inclined her head ever-so-slightly, bent her spine a trifle in what could have been a bow if you noticed it. "Mr. Potter. It is a pleasure to see you again so soon. I trust you had a pleasant flight?"

Harry wasn't sure if he should bow or what, so he settled for bobbing his head to be on the safe side. "Mrs. Lee. Nice to see you again too. The flight was all right. Thank you for the upgrade." He knew he sounded inane, an image not helped by the fact Meilin was still clinging to him like a limpet.

That didn't deter people from staring at him, however. Quite the opposite, possibly.

Yelan's presence, however, made Mr. Crouch a bit more animate. "Mrs. Lee," he said, bowing deeply, then stepping forward to shake her had when she reciprocated. "A pleasure, a pleasure. Weatherby, take note, Mrs. Lee is–"

Harry wasn't able to hear exactly what Yelan was as, with a loud cry consisting of his name, he found himself surrounded by Syaoran's sisters. Melin tightened her grip almost possessively as he was swarmed. He could hear a brief yelp as Winter found herself reunited with them as well.

"Harry, it's so wonderful to see you again–!"

"You've gotten cuter–!"

"What a surprise to find you here–!"

"Winter, you look simply adorable–!"

"This light is very becoming–"

"And who are these fine ladies and gentlemen?"

When the tide receded, Harry blinked to get his bearings back. Bill and Charlie each had one of Syaoran's sister's giggling on their arm, while the rest were swarmed around Ron, the twins, Ginny and Hermione. Mr. Crouch and Bagman were gone, as was Yelan.

"Kinda reminds me of piranha," Meilin commented.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Get off me now, please?"

Meilin sighed, and let go, but managed to snag one of Harry's arms and held on that way. _He_ sighed.

"So, Harry, where are your seats?" Meilin asked.

"Um, Bagman said we were in the Top Box– " Harry said.

"What a coincidence! So are we!" said Meilin.

_Of course,_ Harry thought gloomily.

"So be careful, Potter," Lee said as she walked up next to him, watching Syaoran's sister's shenanigans. "You might go over the edge."

"Drop dead, Slytherin garbage," Harry said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Gryffindor trash," Lee shot back casually.

"Crazy lesbian."

"I'm STRAIGHT, damn it!"

"_Suuuuuuure_ you are…"

"Harry, how do you know these peo-" Hermione asked as she moved towards him, only to pause as she saw Lee so close to him.

"The mad women are Lee's cousins," Harry said, by way of explanation. Meilin made herself obvious by settling against Harry's arm. He sighed. "And this is Lee's sister, Meilin."

"Hi," Meilin said.

"Um, hi," Hermione said hesitantly. Over her shoulder, Fred and George were practically basking in the attention, while Ron, and Ginny looked as uncomfortable as Harry had. Mr. Weasley watched in amusement, while Percy was looking very much left out. "You're Lee's sister?" she repeated, as if unable to believe.

"Twin sister," Meilin clarified. She looked at Hermione calculatingly, though without any malice

Hermione looked at Harry.

"Yeah, I was surprised to find out they were related too," Harry said.

Winter joined them, smiling brightly. "Wow, they sure are enthusiastic, aren't they? Hey Meilin , Lee!"

"Moon," Lee said neutrally in greeting. Meilin rolled her eyes.

Behind Hermione, Syaoran was had Ginny and Ron in tow, his sisters now devoting their attention to Ron's brothers. Percy was no longer looking so left out, having been roped in as well. Mr. Weasley had sat down for another cup of tea. "Harry," the Chinese bow said, raising a hand in greeting.

"Syaoran," Harry answered in kind. "You didn't tell me you'd be here."

The other boy shrugged. "You didn't say you'd be coming. We'd have offered to bring you with us, and you could have stayed two more days."

Harry made introductions as Ron and Syaoran shook hands, while Ginny, Hermione and Meilin did the same, the Weasley girl a bit stiffly as she eyed Meilin hanging off Harry's arm. Ron looked at the two with suspicion when he heard how they were related to Lee, but seemed to accept Harry's assurances they were all right. Soon they'd all sat down again, Hermione eagerly asking Syaoran about eastern magics. He, for one, seemed willing to talk to her about it, sounding more enthusiastic than at any other time Harry had heard him without Sakura around.

And in Harry's jacket, Kero was kicking and still frantically trying to get at the sausages.

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It had to end. All things do. This was his life, after all. When was it ever easy?

He couldn't recall what they were talking about when it happened. Kero had managed to finally eat the sausages by sneaking out the back of his jacket, and sneaking back in to nap. And then…

Harry barely managed to keep his head from jerking to the side and staring as he felt it. Lee had gone still, her eyes going slightly blank as she concentrated on something inside, her body relaxing. Syaoran blinked, looking off to the side, in the direction Harry wanted to. Hermione frowned, concerned. "Syaoran?"

Harry tensed, and he later wondered why. It wasn't _his _problem.

"I just remembered that, ah–" Syaoran fumbled.

Lee's foot abruptly moved, 'accidentally' kicking over a bucket of water. She and the people seated close to her– Bill, two of Syaoran's sisters and Winter– got up hurriedly from the suddenly muddy ground.

"Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about," the curse-breaker said as he vanished the water away, which brought up a new round of admiring praise from Syaoran's sisters. "Just a little water, that's all."

"We'll get another bucket," Lee said, grabbing the fallen bucket. "Come on, Syaoran, Mei. We were supposed to find out where the water faucets were anyway, remember? I take it that's why you broke off just now?"

Syaoran, at least, was very quick on the uptake. "Yes, of course. Harry, could you maybe show us the way?"

"Uh, sure," Harry said, getting up a little awkwardly, since his legs needed stretching. He'd barely taken a step before Meilin was back and latched on to his arm again.

"I'm coming too!" she declared, very enthusiastically. Winter looked on in bemusement, while Harry frantically tried to discreetly signal for help.

"I guess I'll come along too, to chaperone," Winter said, shrugging. Then had to hurry, since Lee had already begun moving, and she and Syaoran were almost out of sight.

Conversation returned to the little camp site, though Ginny kept looking at the direction they'd gone. Finally, she grabbed the other empty bucket and said something about going after them. Hermione rolled her eyes.

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"The Weasley girl is following us," Lee said, glancing quickly over her shoulder.

"She has a name, you know," Harry growled at her. "Meilin, please let go of my arm."

Meilin pouted at him, then sighed loudly and let go. Winter was going through her pockets.

"So, is it a Clow Card?" she asked, making a happy little sound as she pulled out a small notebook and a pen. Harry nodded absently as he darted a quick look over his shoulder. He could see Ginny's red hair some ways back. "Ooh, how to start… 'Our noble heroes stride through the crowd, moving through the seething mass of humanity like sharks through the reeds. They hunt for the Card they seek, and to the mightiest hunter go the spoils'…"

Winter realized the four of them were staring at her. "What?"

"We need to lose Weasley," Lee said, hefting her bucket. "Mei, can you–?"

"She won't be able to," Harry said. "Find me someplace I can call up a Card. I have an idea."

"Those tents are empty," Syaoran said pointing towards a row of tents arranged in a straight line. A group of people were having a picnic off to the side, plainly the owners. Harry reached up to his neck, puling out his Key. He turned towards the tents, the others following, and he turned into them, briefly blocking Ginny's view. It took only a little time for him to change it into the Wand, and a little more to draw out a Card. The clock was ticking.

"Mirror," Harry said, flicking her Card up and bringing down the Sealing Wand, "I need you."

A Harry Potter moved out of the tents to intercept Ginny. The five of them watched as Mirror 'bumped into' Ginny (metaphorically), diverting her. They only stayed long enough to see they were moving in another direction, before heading towards where they felt the Card was. It had been some time since they felt it, and were taking the lack of major incident as a good sign.

Harry checked the Cards he'd now moved to his pocket, the Book now in Winter's care. He'd have to find a way to secure it again later.

"It feels like it's coming from the woods," Syaoran said as they walked, drawing closer to the tree-line.

"Good," Harry and Lee chorused, then glared at each other.

They reached the trees. Lee and, surprising, Syaoran both drew swords. Harry drew the Windy from his pocket, hefting his wand. The three of them stepped in front of Meilin and Winter. "Kero? Can you tell which one it is?"

Kero slipped out of Harry's jacket, frowning. He shook his head. "It's still too vague. I can't tell."

"The hard way, then," Harry said.

Lee gestured. "After you, Potter."

That's when the second thing happened.

The air… buzzed. That was the best way to describe it. It was like someone was taking a jackhammer to the fabric of the universe, causing it to flap like a sail in tornado, making the air buzz with its agitation. The three of them in the lead looked around, hands tightening on what they were holding. They could feel power suddenly hanging in the air, growing seemingly from out of nowhere. It was unlike anything they had ever felt before. It… _tasted_ different, for lack of a better term. Wisps of black mist began to rise, coming from out of nowhere.

"Is that it?" Winter asked, sounding excited as usual, and with a start, Harry remembered she couldn't feel this like he could, couldn't tell it was something else.

"Get back," he and Lee chorused, and both spared a moment to glare at each other again.

"Do that later," Syaoran snapped at them, and the two of them came back to the here and now, feeling the power grow stronger. It seemed… cold somehow. Icy. The black mist was growing thicker, yet for some reason wasn't spreading, gathering in one spot…

They felt a strong burst of energy that made them step back involuntarily, as the black mist seemed to condense, twisting like someone was using it as a corkscrew on the cork of the moment, and then–

Then the spike they felt dipped, and the black mist was fading and someone was standing where it all had been. He looked at the two sword-points directed in his general direction, and slowly raised both hands. "I come in peace for all mankind?"

He was wearing black, like the mist had congealed on him. Black trousers, black shirt, a floor-length black coat of the kind that had become popular since Keanu Reeve's movie. A pendant hung from his neck, a darkened frame of twisted asymmetrical metal around a black orb. It seemed to pulse. A lot of the cold feeling was coming from it. Then Harry looked at his face and nearly dropped his Sealing Wand. The Windy Card fluttered to the ground.

Clear green eyes looked at him from behind a face unobscured by glasses, looking at him up and down, studying his companions. He saw then widen as it turned to Syaoran, stare for a moment as they came to Kero, lingered appreciatively at the girls. Lee squirmed uncomfortably, shock dissolving as her hands shifted to properly grip her blade.

"Mirror?" Winter asked, surprised at the sudden appearance, senses blind to what Harry was feeling. Not all the cold came from the pendant.

"No thank you, I don't need one," a voice said, and it wasn't Harry's, though it should have been. A smile quirked on lips, and Harry had to wonder if he maybe Snape had a point about him looking arrogant and impertinent. Did his hair really look that messy? No wonder Uncle Vernon was always annoyed with him about it….

And all this was still shock talking. Harry tried to get a grip on himself. There was an explanation to this, of course. A Time-Turner, perhaps? But it didn't _feel_ like a Time-Turner. "Wh-" he cleared his throat as his voice broke, tried again. "Who– what… What's going on here?!?"

Something cold seemed to brush against his skin, except it didn't. There was something cold in his head, ever so briefly, then it was gone. He saw Lee and Syaoran shudder, and guessed they'd felt the same thing.

"I guess this is the expository dialogue part of the conversation," the person in front of them said, lowering his hands to tap his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I should make a pamphlet. This looks like it might become a habit." One foot extended forward, and he bowed, one hand flourishing the coat like it was a cape. "Harry Potter, at your service…"

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: And it continues.

RL has been making a lot of demands, so don't expect a lot of updates in a short span of time. Reviews asking me to post soon will go unfulfilled and might just slow me down.

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	2. In The Eyes Of Others

A/N: And I'm back.

It is my desire to write something so good I get put on the TvTropes Crowning Moment of Awesome for fanfics (tvtropes pmwiki/ pmwiki. php/ CrowningMoment/ FanFic) page. Just a hint, you know…

Edit: I've realized that Meilin disappeared somewhere between chapters, and corrected the mistake. Sorry if I accidentally got your hopes up. I'm working on the next chap, honest!

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 26, The Little: In The Eyes Of Others

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

* * *

_I am The Mirror Card. Three capitals, please. It's not 'the mirror card' or 'the mirror Card' or 'The Mirror card''. All three words begin with capital letters. Why? "What's the difference?" you ask. _

_It is simple. One is my name. The others are not._

_I am powerful, though this isn't saying much. My creator and first master, Clow Reed, bless his memory, was powerful, and he made us to be the same. I have power beyond the dreams of mere wizards. I am a power beyond the dreams of mere wizards. This means nothing._

_I am The Mirror Card. And this is one of my stories…_

Mirror walked through the crowd of wizards, keeping her– now temporarily a 'him', but she was too attached to the pronoun to bother letting go of it– now-green eyes on a patch of bright red hair. Ginny Weasley, the sister of her master's friend. Very much taken with the master, which was unfortunate, since the master was too taken with the lady Winter– and likely distracted by herself and her brother's and sisters, in one way or another, Mirror mused– to notice or perhaps care. Not because the master was cold hearted, but simply because he had other things to consider.

Mirror deliberately turned her head so she was apparently not looking where she was going, relying on her senses and peripheral vision to know when it was time. At the last second, she looked ahead of her and suitably looked surprised as she stepped back to keep from running into Ginny.

"Ginny?" she said, in her master's voice, wearing his face and using his mannerisms. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. What are you doing here?"

The girl blushed slightly, but Mirror pretended to ignore it. The master never paid attention to her attraction to him, after all. "We needed more water," she said, lifting up the bucket she was carrying as if for proof. "I tried to follow you, but lost track in the crowd. Where are Winter and the Lees?"

"They went back to their tent to show Winter something," Mirror said, reaching for the bucket. "Here, let me take that."

Their hands touched, and Ginny's blush deepened just the slightest bit. Mirror almost smiled despite herself. It was amusing, the way the girl reacted to every move she made. Fun, really.

For a moment, she wondered how the girl would react if she pretended to reciprocate her feelings. It should be interesting, at the very least. But the master had given her her orders. She was, among other things, not to do anything uncharacteristic.

She mentally paused a moment to consider those orders. Master tended to indulge her, was forgiving of actions that technically constituted sexual assault, and could be genuinely affectionate when he wasn't under pressure, stressed, being tested by her fellow Cards or otherwise in trying circumstances. What would be constituted as 'uncharacteristic'?

A smile twitched at the corner of her lip…

* * *

If Harry was uncharacteristically silent while they waited at the line for the water– sandwiched between two Asian-looking witches who appeared to be comparing something on the flippy-open muggle thingy with al the pressable things on them and a rather good looking blonde wizard tunelessly humming something who for some reason reminded her of Dumbledore – Ginny was in no position to notice. Well, _technically_ she was in a position– that is, standing a foot or so next to him– to notice, but not a lot of noticing was going on. Not of the kind to notice uncharacteristic behavior, anyway.

So what might or might not have been an uncharacteristic silence was not commented upon as they waited in line, until they finally reached the tap. Ginny bent down to fill the bucket. And then…

"Here, let me take care of that," Harry said, reaching down to take hold of the bucket just as Ginny was about to pick it up. His hand closed over hers for a moment before she jerked back, nearly elbowing him in the stomach. The two witches behind them giggled, a bit too loudly in Ginny's opinion. She felt flushed, and hope he didn't notice how hers hands were shaking, though that was unlikely, since he was more likely to notice how her face now matched her hair.

He didn't. Whether or not he was just pretending, it at least let her pretend.

It was a childish crush. She knew it. _He_ probably knew it. Hermione knew it. Ron probably knew it, though that was debatable. Her youngest brother wasn't exactly the most perceptive person in the world, after all. Practically everyone and their granny– with the seeming exception of her parents, thank goodness– seemed to know it was a childish crush. So how come she couldn't seem to get over it?

And now it seemed the universe was making fun of her misery…

She sighed and looked up from her reverie, and nearly kissed Harry. He was leaning towards her, their noses nearly touching– _were_ touching, she realized– giving her a look of guileless, innocent concern of the kind of someone trying to look very guileless and innocent and concerned. "Are you all right Ginny?" he asked, his tone very much the same. She was aware of the bucket of water he held pressing slightly against her knees.

She tried to keep her face smooth and impassive, hoped he thought the redness on her face was just light reflecting off and filtering through her hair– HAH! Not even _Ron_ was _that_ oblivious!– opened her mouth to lie–

Their eyes met. Green eyes met hers with guileless and innocent concern.

"I'm fine," her mouth managed to finish on its own. It certainly had no input from her.

Harry frowned. "Well, in that case, let's get back. They'll be waiting for you."

Ginny followed behind a bit belatedly, trying to get the sense out of her mind that she had looked at someone else, a complete and utter stranger, that clear, reflective blue eyes that were practically silver had shined at her through a layer of green to stare back, holding barely suppressed mirth, laughter and a hint of sympathy…

* * *

"The world is coming to an end," Lee Fei said solemnly, a white-knuckled grip on her sword. "Truly this is a sign of the end times. The only way to avert Armageddon is to reduce the number of Beasts. "

So saying, she lunged as everyone around her shouted in surprise, her sword arcing down to cleave into Potter's skull.

Well, one of them, anyway.

At the last instant, two things happened.

One, she twisted her grip slightly, so as to strike with the flat of the blade, and not straight on. She didn't want to kill him… debatably. After all, it looked like Potter.

The second thing that happened was that the look-alike dodged to the side, twisting his body to provide the smallest profile. Her hand instinctively shifted, moving into a sideways slash as her training made her compensate for her target's shift, and it was only later that her horror at her actions came over her. But at the instant, she merely moved to continue her attack…

And her blade encountered a barrier that gave a crystalline ring that her sword echoed metallically, something that pressed back on it in a familiar way. Her blade caught on something, hard, and it was twisted from her grip. The other Potter– _There are two of them!_ a part of her mind thought hysterically_ TWO!_– danced back, spinning, and something hard slammed into the side of her head, knocking her to the side. The world went fuzzy for a second.

When she managed to focus again, Syaoran had stepped forward, his blade raised in a guard position, and both Potter and Moon had pointed their wands more assertively at… at the Other. Said other was calmly removing her sword from the–

She blinked. What appeared to be an icicle was growing on his right forearm, following its shape. Inside it, his hand had flattened like a dagger, the icicle taking on the appearance of a roughly hewn but sharp blade. Her sword had apparently been frozen into it, chunks of ice that had adhered to the metal falling off as the Other pulled it free, taking it in hand and twirling it once to… to get used to the balance. Her mind sharpened, her eyes narrowed. Whoever this was, he obviously knew more about swordplay than Potter did, who relied completely on The Sword's granted abilities.

The twirl finished, and the Other held the sword, point down, seemingly relaxed be definitely ready, the ice blade in a similar position on his other side. "What was that about?" he said, frowning. "Something I said? There was no need to try and cut my bloody head open!"

She could feel their gazes on her, Moon's, her sister's. Potter deliberately took a sidestep away from her.

The Other looked between her and Potter, eyes narrowing, and she felt that formless, non-physical cold sensation brushing against her again, entering her head…

"Stop that!" she snapped, belatedly going for her wand.

The feeling paused, then seemed to draw away, and she let out a sigh of relief, and got the sense the others echoed her sentiment. The Other tilted its head. "You know, you're the first wizards I've met who've picked up I was doing that. Not even Dumbledore notices me, and I hear he's good at that sort of thing."

For a moment, there was silence as they faced off, slightly uncertain.

"Um, can we try this again?" the Other said, smiling brightly as he loosened his grip on Fei's sword, holding it instead by the pommel with two fingers. With an easy motion, he abruptly flicked the blade towards her, which she caught effortlessly, her wand never wavering. The icicle on his arm melted, like a time-lapse video. He raised his arms. "Please don't kill me?"

There was a relaxation of tensions. No wands and swords went down, but they weren't a ready as they were before.

Then…

"The world is coming to an end?" Potter snapped at her out of the corner of his mouth. "'This is a sign of the end times'?"

"There were two of you running around," Fei said, not looking at him. "It was a logical conclusion."

Winter looked at the two of them. "So, is this the Card we're looking for?" she asked.

"No" she and Potter chorused, then exchanged glares. A beat. Then they turned to look at Winter.

She rolled her eyes. "Too easy."

The Other paused, seemed to think it over, than turned to Keroberos. "Are they always like that?" he asked.

"Most of the time," he said.

The Other nodded. "Note to self, stay away from sword-wielding Asian girls back home."

"Home?" Potter said suspiciously.

The Other sighed. "I _really_ need to write this stuff down," he muttered. "Okay, let me try again. I'm–"

* * *

"- here!" Mirror said, still in character as she and Ginny returned to camp.

Everyone looked up at their arrival, including Syaoran's mother, and Mirror remembered that Yelan was a skilled sorceress like her niece and son. She could probably tell what she was. Her face remained smooth and unruffled how. Mirror supposed she couldn't have been anything else. What would she have done, declare that Mirror was an imposter?

It was, Mirror decided, a very nice day. She should really thank her master for this. She had to suggest letting the others out like this sometimes as well. Her siblings would really appreciate it.

Mirror cheerfully handed Ginny a marshmallow and taught her how to make smores, letting her hand touch the other girl's for just a moment too long. The girl blushed, and Mirror had to suppress a highly amused smile. This was fun!

* * *

Harry wound down with his story. When he'd left his brother at San Francisco, he'd braced himself for some pretty weird things. After all, the first time he'd done this, he'd met a half-demon some-day-to-be superhero version of himself, the Witch of Dimensions, and his half-sister by Voldemort who also happened to be him. That had been complicated enough.

The five– six counting the little flying creature, and Harry was calling it that because otherwise he was admitting to recognizing it– stared at him with a mix of disbelief, exasperation, a concern for his sanity– or more accurately, a concern for their well-being if he happened to be lacking in sanity– dread and… acceptance?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked the brown-haired girl with the red eyes who'd tried to kill him by accusing him of being a sign of the end of the world. The knowledge in the Dark Heart told him this wasn't the first time he'd been called such.

Instead of answering, the girl reached into her clothes– Harry resisted the urge to take a cautious step back. Never let them see you blink, after all. His face almost ached from maintaining the Weasley-twin Grade smile of disregard– pulling out a wide, flat box that might have been a pencil case. It wasn't. Harry could feel the power inside it, living, vibrant power. From the case she drew out a red card, one of the powers Harry felt. A part of him expected the images on either side of it to be moving. The rest of him knew it wouldn't be. He supposed he should have expected running into a place like this…

She flicked the card into the air as those on either side kept an eye on Harry, though his doppelganger was warily watching her out of the corner of his eye. Interesting. He watched as she somehow stabbed the card with the point of her sword, an intricate circle of light bursting forth at her feet as Harry felt the power swirl and coalesce around her. "Balance of justice, show me the truth," she said. "Libra Card!"

Harry watched, not unimpressed as the card dissolved into taffy-looking pastel-colored tendrils of energy, gathering themselves into a sort of balance scale in front of the girl. On one side hung a golden sun, on the other a silver crescent moon. Harry felt its energy bathing the area, felt it entering him as well and including him in its field.

"Hey! What the–?!" he cried out in surprise, trying to bring his power to bear cast out or shield himself from the energy. The magic was unfamiliar to him, however, and surprisingly tenacious. It kept worming its way in despite everything he tried, as if it new entrances he didn't.

"Don't try to fight it," the red-eyed girl– Harry had been able to pick up her name was Fei, though she didn't like being called that except by people she was close to– told him warningly. Harry returned to the present in time to find himself looking down the barrel of a snub-nosed revolver. Or was it a derringer? What was the difference between the two, exactly? None of his predecessors had really been involved enough with those kinds of firearms for him to know. And this was displacement activity when he should be getting ready to shield himself, wasn't it?

"Lee!" he heard the other Harry cry. "Are you _still_ carrying that thing? And how the heck did you get that past customs and security?"

She snorted. "Please. Security is a joke." She turned her glare back at Harry. "Considering whatever it was you were doing to our minds a while ago, this is only fair. Now, answer my question truthfully. Was everything you just told us about other worlds true?"

Harry blinked, surprised at the rather redundant blunt question. "Yes," he said, even as he silently formed a shield in front of the gun.

The balance scale twitched as Harry felt a kind of sympathetic ripple through the energy around it that had caught him in its web. The girl looked at it, face blank, then sighed.

"He's telling the truth, isn't he?" the silver-haired girl said, sounding breathless with excitement. Harry had only ever heard Colin Creevey acting like that, and this girl was nothing like Colin. She wasn't acting embarrassing, for one thing. "He really _IS_ from another universe?" The dark-haired girl was looking at him intently, a weird light in her eyes as glanced between him and his double.

Harry's double was looking at the brown-haired girl with an intensity that said he really wanted an answer to that question as well, as was the brown-haired boy Harry was refusing to allow himself to identify. One look at the red wand in his double's hands had told him, but that was what denial was for.

The girl Fei nodded, almost solemnly. "He's telling the truth," she said, almost reluctantly. The glare she gave Harry was strangely familiar. "Unfortunately."

He pointed at the Fei. "You wouldn't happen to be in Slytherin House, would you?" he asked on an impulse.

"What of it?" Fei said.

"It's just that you looked so much like Snape just then," Harry said, adding a smile to the words. Fei scowled at him. "See, right there!"

The silver-haired girl looked, and laughed, causing Fei's scowl to deepen. "He's right, Lee. You do a pretty good impression of Professor Snape."

"Can you explain for those of us who don't go to your school?" the dark-haired girl said.

Lee. The girl's family name was Lee. Could be a coincidence. It was a common name, after all. Isn't denial a grand thing?

Harry's double smiled then, a small, kind of creepy smile. It Harry had to describe it further, he would have called it… vindictive. His double turned to him. "I like you. I think we're going to get along just fine." The red bird-headed wand and the smaller holly one he'd been pointing at Harry both suddenly lowered, and he was extending an empty hand. "Harry Potter, pleased to meet you," he– the other Harry– said.

Harry took his hand. "The same and the same," he said, and was briefly weirded out. Was this was shaking hands with him felt like? Were his hands wet and sweaty like that all the time? "Though I've found in situations like this that it's sometimes best to give people some other name to call me. I usually go by 'Keeper'."

"Keeper? As in Quidditch?" the other Harry said.

"No, but is should have realized _way _before now," he said. "No, it's 'Keeper' as in… well, it's part of this title I have."

"People call you something else besides 'The Boy-Who-Lived'?" the silver-haired girl said, smiling in both welcome and jest as she held out her hand. Harry took it. "Winter Moon, official Chronicler of the Exploits of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and Card Captor."

"Win!" the other Harry hissed, sounding embarrassed.

"You can't just tell people about that left and right!" the little flying creature said.

There it was. Harry had tried to deny it but since someone had said the words out loud… "You really _are_ the Card Captor," Harry said, turning that over in his mind. "Card Captor Harry… that's either the title of a really weird anime or a very strange self-insert fanfic."

The little creature glared up at him. "What do you know about that?" it demanded.

"I know that if _he's_ the Card Captor," Harry said, pointing at his alternate before switching his gaze at the brown-haired boy who'd been doing a remarkable job staying quiet, "then that makes you Lee Syaoran, Clow Reed's descendant. And that," he turned to the little creature, "makes you Keroberos, Kero or Kero-chan for short, the Sun Guardian. And you're Meilin." He turned to Fei. "Though I have no idea how you fit into all this."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

"You're not mentioned in my information," Harry said. He looked at the balance scales in the air. "Libra Card… a Clow Card, then. I think it's the one that tells whether something is the truth or not, though I can't be sure. Not much is said about it."

"Said about it _where_?" Fei pressed.

"I'm not sure it would be a good idea to tell you," Harry said.

The balance scale moved. Fei directed her scowl at it.

"That means he was telling the truth, wasn't it?" Winter said, grinning.

Fei glared at Harry. "I think I'm going to hate you as much as the other one."

"A pity," Harry said, giving her his most charming smile. "It's always a pleasure to meet a pretty girl."

The shudder that ran through her body couldn't have been anything but disgust. For that matter, neither could the shudder that ran through the other Harry.

"Okay, rule one," the other Harry said. "We do not like, flirt with, think of, or even consider Lee a girl. Please stop it."

"Whatever you say, Card," Harry said. The other blinked.

"Card?"

"Well, I can't call you 'Harry', now, can I? That'd just get confusing!"

Meilin, meanwhile was looking at Harry speculatively. "It's a pleasure to meet a pretty girl, hmm?"

Harry turned towards her, his most winning smile on his face. "Always. Forgive me, I haven't been very polite. A pleasure to meet you, m'lady," he said, bowing.

Her grin widened, and she extended a hand. His lips twitched in a smile, and he made a show of kissing it. "Charmed," she said. He heard his double gagging and the loud, violent thoughts Fei was now directing toward his existence.

Lee Syaoran turned to Fei, and it was then that Harry was really struck by the resemblance. "You know," he said to the girl, possibly the first words he'd said in front of Harry, "If this is what life around Clow Cards is like, I think I'm glad I decided to stay at home. This is just too weird."

Somewhere in the forest, something crashed down.

Everyone whipped their heads around towards the source of the sound. "What…?" Harry began, before he frowned, sending his senses questing. "Something's out there. Something… strong."

"The Clow Card," Winter winced, slapping a hand on her forehead. "We forgot all about it!"

The other Harry– who Harry resolved to think of as 'Card'– and Fei glared at each other as the glowing pastel scales of The Libra faded away back into a plain pasteboard rectangle. "It's mine!" both hissed in eerie synchronization, before they both broke into a run deeper into the woods, towards where Harry could feel the powerful energy– presumably the Clow Card.

"Enthusiastic, aren't they?" he said.

Winter shrugged. "They're always like that. It's part of their charm. If we don't hurry, we'll lose them." Putting words to effect, she dashed off, Keroberos trailing after her.

Harry looked at Syaoran and Meilin. "Harry Potter, though it might be convenient to call me 'Keeper'," he said, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Syaoran Lee," he responded, shaking the proffered appendage. "You may call me Lee, if my cousin Fei is around, to prevent confusion. The pleasure is mine."

The two nodded at each other, and the three began walking, quickly but not too hurriedly. "Your cousin?" Harry said. "I'd have pegged her for your sister, myself."

"That's a common misconception," Meilin said. "We're the twins."

"Ah…"

They heard another crash, exchanged looks, and moved faster.

* * *

Wizard camping songs, Mirror decided, were weird. Especially the Chinese ones.

They'd moved to the 'roasting hotdogs' stage of the activities, though the Weasleys had bought sausages, and were now roasting them on sticks while Feimei– one of the sisters– was teaching them some rhyming song. Mirror understood it, of course– it was a childish nursery rhyme– but she faked not getting it along with everyone else.

She wondered what the master and his friends were doing…

* * *

Syaoran, Meilin and the other Harry– Keeper, as he requested he be called– found Winter huddled next to a small boulder, peering intently over the top and scribbling furiously in the notebook in her hands, Kero next to her. "Hey," she greeted them.

Syaoran wondered about the girl's seeming lack of a self-preservation instinct. Near as she could figure, she seemed to have a near-irrational faith that Harry and his cousin were capable of anything, up to and including keeping her from harm. to be fair, she at least kept back from any action, but that had more to do with her self-appointed duties as a chronicler.

Keeper looked down at her, then raised a hand, muttering nonsense under his breath as he rotated his wrist, a black mist-like substance appearing from it, emanating the same cold Syaoran had felt before. A flick, and suddenly a slightly black tinged semi-spherical construct appeared around Winter's hiding place. She blinked in surprise, glancing up at Keeper curiously.

"For your protection," he said. He picked a small rock and flicked it at her. It bounced off the construct, which was obviously a shield of some kind.

"Cool!" she said. "This _so_ not ordinary magic! You've _got_ to tell me all about it later!"

"The world's gone weird when there's such a thing as _ordinary_ magic," Keeper muttered as they went past her, now moving more cautiously.

"Agreed," Syaoran said. After all, it was true.

They made their way to the battlefield, what there was of it. Several trees were lying all around, obviously torn right out of the ground and flung, as well as several freshly broken rocks. Syaoran's grip on his sword tightened and loosened nervously. When his cousin had told him about how much potential damage there was when confronting Clow Cards, he hadn't really been able to grasp the extent of it. Sure, he'd faced kappas and such in his training, but those little 'dark' creatures were orders of magnitude beneath a Clow Card. He thought of the only truly powerful being he had ever faced and winced as he realized it was the Madoushi, the water spirit that had taken him and the others hostage. If he couldn't stand against _that_…

His cousin stood behind the protective bubble of The Shield Card, while Harry– the one he knew– was making due with a barrier of sand, a dusty-colored female form in Arabian Nights harem-girl wear standing next to him. They stood apart on the edges of what could only be described as the blast zone. In the center of said blast zone stood a small humanoid figure glowing in pale pastel. It was wearing poofy pants. For some reason, that detail seemed important.

As the watched, the little figure skipped off, picking up a small boulder, each about the size of a TV and bouncing them easily in its hands. Syaoran was a bit too far to make out its expression, but he could see its lips curling. The two rocks flew, one in a high arc towards Harry, the other in a straight fast pitch towards his cousin.

Instinct made him move, drawing an ofuda with the quick ease of long practice, and slapping it down on the flat of his sword. "Raitei Shourai!" he cried, a blast of lightning arcing towards the rock and intercepting it, blasting it apart, the shards deflecting off Fei's Shield. Next to him, Keeper snapped up his hand, and a burst of dark energy stuck the rock about to drop down on Harry. It seemed to shudder in mid-air and dissolved into dust, which was absorbed by the sand barrier.

"Got your backs!" Keeper called out cheerfully. "Don't worry!"

Syaoran stared at him. How could he sound so care-free? He was smiling even now, his face set in a devil-may-care smile that looked vaguely like that Lockhart guy's, before he disappeared a couple of years ago. Meilin had really liked his books.

Shaking his head, Syaoran focused on the task at hand. "Which one is that?" he called out, trying to get a better view of the Clow Card. He could tell enough to identify it according to what he'd read in the Lee Clan's records of the Cards.

"Power!" Fei answered, riffling through the box where she kept her Cards, obviously looking for inspiration. "Any ideas?"

"Have you tried the pedophile approach?" Keeper suggested. "You know, offered her candy to come with you?"

Fei took the time to glare at him scornfully. "Don't be ridiculous! And that's disgusting!"

Harry paused and began checking his pockets. "I think I might still have a chocolate in here," he said loudly.

"Oh, come on, Potter! You can't be serious!"

"You off all people should know that the Card's idea of enthusiastic affection is nearly sexual assault! Got any better ideas?"

Keeper's mouth dropped open in shock, and suddenly he looked exactly like the Harry Syaoran knew. "Wait, _**WHAT?!**_"

"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Winter suddenly cried.

Syaoran looked up in time to dive forward and roll out of the way. He barely managed to slip under the tree, feeling the bark graze his shoulder as he fell. Behind him, he heard sharp snaps, like ice cracking.

"That was close," he heard Keeper say, and this time he could tell he was slightly shaken, even through the bravado his voice carried. He turned to look.

The tree was suspended in the air about a foot away from the black-coated boy, held in place by a network of ice that anchored to the ground and several other trees. A few broken ice spars said it hadn't stopped immediately. It had come very close to hitting him in the face. Awkwardly, he bent over and squeezed in between the spars holding it up to go under it. A black shield like the one he'd put around Winter was now hovering hovering in front of him. He moved to help up Syaoran, keeping them both covered by the shield.

They looked up in time to see Harry warily approaching the small Clow Card, hands upraised reassuringly. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but from his body language it was likely to be something calming. The Clow Card was watching him curiously, holding a length of tree trunk from an already broken tree. The Clow Card girl in the harem outfit remained where he'd been, looking very concerned. He spoke a while to the small Clow Card who was looking at him quizzically. Then he took a little step back, and called out, "Hey! Do any of you have candy?"

Keeper and Syaoran exchanged glances. Keeper shrugged and began going through his pockets, unearthing what appeared to be several bars of candy.

Fei finally drew a Card, raising her sword to strike with the point. Keeper made a gesture and the bars of chocolate disappeared, only to reappear in Harry's hands. He looked at them in surise, but quickly began peeling one open as he turned back to the Clow Card, even as Fei cried out, "Sweet Card."

"Are they… actually trying to give it candy?" Syaoran said, astonished.

"Looks like it," Keeper said.

"Hey!" Winter called out behind them. "Could you please let me out of here? I can't see!"

"_**CANDY!**_" Kero agreed.

For the first time in his life, Syaoran was _really_ glad his cousin had been the one chosen to go to Hogwarts. This was too crazy for him…

* * *

Harry looked at the new Clow Card in his hand with something akin to self-loathing. "I can't believe I just did that," he said in disgust.

"What, made like Professor Dumbledore with a pocket full of Sherbet lemons?" Keeper said innocently. It sounded so very like the Weasley twins being innocent.

He, Winter and Lee all looked at him, faces appalled while Syoaran and Meilin exchanged the looks of people out of the loop. "You did _not_ just say that!" Harry said.

"I'm never going to be able to look at the Headmaster the same way again," Winter said, shuddering.

Lee drew her wand, looking at it as if torn between using on the black-clad boy or herself.

"Hey, I only suggested it," Keeper said defensively. "You two were the one who thought it would work."

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say a word, Sand had hugged him from behind, getting brown sprays of herself all over Harry's clothes. He tried not to think about that. He turned to glare at her, mouth still open, and she was sticking her tongue into his open mouth even before their lips met. His eyes became half-lidded and his neck– _quite_ involuntarily– moved into the kiss, a low moan rising in his throat. He vaguely heard choking sounds in the background.

His face was completely professional when he turned back, plucking Sand's card out of the air and wondering _exactly_ what Clow Reed had gotten up to for the Cards to learn about this sort of stuff. His cheeks were _not_ read, nope, no, not at all!

"Huh," Syaoran said, blushing, as Harry turned back. "That was… interesting…"

"She was good technique," Meilin said with almost professional dispassion. "And she was pretty hot."

Lee glared at Harry as if that last comment of her sister's was his fault. He couldn't see why.

"Hmm…" Keeper agreed, sounding a bit dazed himself. "Is that what you meant when you were talking about sexual harassment?"

Harry took a moment, and decided to ignore them. He turned to Winter. "Is there _any_ chance you can leave that out of… whatever it is you're writing?"

"Nope," Winter said cheerfully.

To the side, Sweet was dissolving as she kissed a disgruntled Lee on the nose, the latter putting down the hand the former had been standing on. She seemed to be dividing her glares between him and the other… Keeper. Between him and Keeper. Apparently, her hate of all things about him extended to versions of him from other universes.

Hmm. That's one thought he'd never thought he'd think.

Said person turned to Winter, blinking as if to reset his brain. "I take it that's not the first time that's happened?"

"Nope," Winter answered.

"Ah," Keeper said.

Syaoran eyed his cousin and Harry. "Um, how often has it…?"

"I've literally lost count," Winter said brightly.

"_WIN!_!" Harry cried.

"_MOON!_" Lee cried.

Syaoran twitched. Meilin grinned wider

"It's non-consensual!" Lee protested.

"What she said!" Harry agreed.

"You held up your hand so she'd have somewhere to stand on," Keeper pointed out.

"You moaned," Winter added. "And it was _not_ the 'I don't like this' sort of moan."

Harry decided that maybe Lee, horrible as the thought was, had a point. He glared at the other him.

He and Winter replied with creepily identical smiles.

He shuddered and looked away, hunting for a new avenue of conversation as he tucked The Power Card into the Book. "Look at this place. It really got messed up."

Winter and Keeper exchanged looks, but fortunately seemed willing to let it pass. He turned to look around as well. "I could probably fix it up, get rid of all the collateral damage."

"You'd better hurry," Syoaran said. "Your Ministry's security might not be much, but I'll bet at least a few people felt all that just now, and might be coming to check it out."

"Best we leave," Lee agreed, nodding, her sword collapsing into a little bead charm.

"In a minute," Keeper said, raising a hand.

The cold energy Harry was now was Keeper's flowed out from the other boy, eyes slightly closed. A wave of his hand, and the ground began to flatten out, the uprooted trees beginning to powder into dust as they sank into the ground, absorbed by the earth. Even as that happened, shoots began to sprout out of the dirt, spreading and growing into sapling and then into trees, growing like some kind of time lapse video.

Keeper tilted his head as the trees reached the approximate height and width of the trees that survived. He 'hmm'ed to himself thoughtfully, seemingly ignoring the looks everyone was directing at him and the area all around. Winter scribbled in her notebook furiously. He made off-hand gestures, and the trunks of the trees grayed and darkened, some of the trunks cracking and curling, as if they'd aged and endured all sorts of inclement weather. "That looks right, doesn't it?" he said. The last of the rocks darkened as well, and it was as if the scene was as old as the rest of the forest.

Harry opened his mouth, probably to ask something inane like, "How did you do that?" but Lee interrupted.

"Yes, that looks good," she said impatiently. "Now let's get out of here! I can feel people coming!"

"Agreed," Keeper said, snapping his fingers.

There was black mist and the feeling of the cold energy and actual cold seeping into them, and suddenly they were standing somewhere else, somewhere high and cold. The sky was different, and the sounds of a city could be faintly heard below them.

Harry, and everyone else, looked around wildly. "Where the heck are we?" Harry said, shivering as the cold cut though his clothes.

"Switzerland," Keeper said. "Sorry, I panicked and couldn't think of anywhere else."

"Switzerland?!" Keroberos declared, gaping.

"I like coming here, all right!" Keeper huffed. "They've got interesting gadgets and great chocolate!"

The Sun Guardian grew still. "Really?"

"No Kero, we can't sop to get chocolate!" Harry pre-empted.

"You never let me do anything!"

* * *

They eventually got back to the campsite, appearing near the cottage where Mr. Roberts, the Muggle in charge, stayed. He was standing outside the cabin, frowning in the direction the wizards were camped. Winter couldn't blame him. after all. The colored sparks in the air and vague forms that she supposed were low-flying broomsticks were pretty suspicious.

They went around him, keeping out of his sight, though Keeper assured them all that the spell he'd cast rendered them completely invisible and inaudible. The wizard tents came into view, and Keeper visibly paused, gaping at them. Winter realized this was probably the first time he'd seen the things, since he'd shown up in the middle of the woods, after all. "They're really something , aren't they?" she said, as he finally started walking again, now lagging behind as he looked around.

"That's one way to put it," Keeper said, as he looked at a tent with turrets and a garden with live peacocks in it. "Personally, I'd go with 'tasteless'."

Fei snickered at the words, then look chagrined that she had. Winter stifled a chuckle. The girl was so stick-necked when it came to her opinions. It was endearing, in its way. And kind of cute. She and Harry made a cute couple, if only they'd admit it.

Harry looked up at the sky, looking a bit worried. "The match might be starting soon. How the heck are we going to get Mirror away from the Weasleys to switch places with me?"

"I take it they don't know about the… Card Captoring?" Keeper said. Winter still felt weird looking at him. he looked so much like Harry, except a bit younger, and while they were alike in many ways, they were so different in others. She thought of all the AU stories she read, and thought maybe she shouldn't be surprised. After all, this Harry had led a completely different life. The wonder wasn't that he was so different from the Harry she knew, but that he was so much like him. It made for quite an interesting argument in the 'Nature vs. Nurture' debate…

"No," Harry said, looking over his shoulder and giving Keeper a _look_ that wasn't quite a glare yet contained similar properties. "I'd like to keep it that way."

Keeper shrugged. "Hey, it's your life. I can respect that. Can I suggest a way?"

Harry, Winter, Fei, Syaoran and Kero– Winter made a resolution to start calling him Kero-chan. It was gratuitous fangirl Japanese, but darn it, it sounded cute!– all turned to look at the black-coated boy. About a year, Winter decided. That was about the age difference between the two of them. "What way?" Harry asked warily

Keeper smiled.

And that was Winter's first experience with walking among people in the midst of (nearly) stopped time…

* * *

One moment, Mirror was happily getting up to go with the others and check out he salesmen, the next the whole world around her seemed to have stopped as a strange energy she had never felt before filled the world, and suddenly the Master, Ladies Winter and Lee, Lords Keroberos and Lee and a strange boy that looked similar to the way the master had half a year ago were suddenly all around her.

"Master?" she said in surprise, instinctively shifting to a more feminine shape and voice. "What's going on?"

"It's… kind of weird," the Master said, sounding a bit uncertain himself, and annoyed as well. He glanced a the boy who looked at him, who was looking a Mirror curiously. She felt energy emanating from him try to pass through her. Instinctively, she reflected them, and his eyebrows rose. The Master seemed to ignore the by-play, though she was sure he felt it all. "He… says time is stopped, and that's why no one notices us. I'm switching places with you."

"Oh," Mirror said, and she tried not to sound disappointed.

Apparently, she wasn't very successful. "I'm sorry," the Master said, and she could tell he meant it. "Did you have fun?"

She smiled. "Yes!" she said, trying to get the word to contain all her feelings about how exactly how wonderful the day had been. "It was wonderful! I wish I could do it again soon!"

The Master smiled, partly indulgent, partly pleased. "I'll see what I can arrange."

"You should let the others out like this too," Mirror said, remembering her idea. "They'd love it."

The smile became patient. "We'll see."

Mirror internally winced, hoping this didn't mean her siblings would never see the light of day. She let the form she'd been maintaining dissolve, reverting to her natural form. She looked over her now dimly-glowing pastel shoulder at Ginny Weasley, whose hand she'd been holding. It had been fun, teasing and keeping the girl occupied all day. Those had, technically, been her orders, after all. Wistfully, she remembered the feel of the girl's hand just a few short moments ago. It had been nice. She wished she could meet the girl again. She'd been cute.

Lady Winter was rolling her eyes at the Maser, elbowing him lightly in the ribs. "Don't scare the girl."

"Right, right," the Master muttered. The Lord and Lady Lee exchanged looks.

Mirror took advantage of the opportunity. She moved in, pressing her body against his. He moved back slightly, but she ignored it, planting a long, lingering kiss on his lips as she began to dissolve…

* * *

"Every time, huh?" the Keeper boy said as they watched The Mirror Card dissolving after kissing Harry. Keroberos couldn't take his eyes off him, now that he had the time. The power he was generating, controlling, using… it was incredible! Keroberos had met only two other beings capable of that much output, that much focused and directed use of magic. Harry… and his Creator.

The Keeper boy, the other Harry, was stopping time. Or at least, as close to it as made no difference. And he was doing it unaided. Even Harry, _his_ Harry, needed Time's help for that, though the power came from him. And though he supposed that Clow Reed, bless his soul, _might_ have been capable of such a thing, the fact was Keroberos had never seen him do it without Time either. This was magic beyond Wizardry, perhaps beyond Sorcery… he'd bear close watching.

Especially since he could create chocolate out of thin air!

Harry, flushed as usual, glared at his counterpart. "Please don't remind me. You sure this'll work?"

"Of course," Keeper said, and Keroberos was strangely reminded of Clow. He had a similar manner. Was this boy perhaps also a descendant of his world's Clow Reed? "I remove you from the effect of the time stop, and you'll slip into your Card's place. I've done it lots of times before. Trust me."

"I suppose I'll have to," Harry said dryly.

Keeper waved a hand, and suddenly Harry was standing still, in the same position as the Mirror had been when they'd approached her, holding the Weasley girl's hand. Kero wondered how he'd react to that.

They move off, and Keeper removed the Lees and Winter, putting them back in the flow of time. Finally, when they'd gone far enough away, he dropped back into time himself.

"So, you're my chaperone while I'm waiting this Quidditch Cup out," Keeper said, turning to Keroberos as they walked, once more invisible and undetectable, through the crowd, weaving their way between the wizards. "After the match, what do you say he head back to Switzerland for the night? There's this place I know that's got _great_ cake. "

"Are you trying to bribe your way into my good side?" Keroberos said loftily.

"Maybe…"

They made their way, leaving no trace behind…

* * *

Ginny frowned as Harry abruptly dropped her hand, self-consciously looking the other way. He'd changed when they'd left the campfire. His eyes were guarded now, and wouldn't meet hers anymore. What had happened? It was almost as if he'd been replaced by someone else. The easy smiles and subtle teasing was gone, with only a sort of preoccupied, distant focus in their place. He scanned the crowd, and it was as if she no longer existed as he spotted the Moon girl from Ravenclaw and Lee the Slytherin.

She didn't know what to make of it. All she knew was that she wanted him to look at her again, to look at her with eyes that held mirth and laughter…

* * *

**- To be continued...**

* * *

A/N: I know my depiction of Ginny is going to change and evolve as the story continues. She might not turn into book 6 Ginny or even book 7 Ginny, but she'll be a Ginny as molded by the events of the story. Deal with it.

As for Keeper, he hasn't gotten weaker or anything, he's just not overcompensating anymore because he's in a world of superheroes. Did no one pick up on that last time?

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	3. Cleaning Up The Chamber & A Clow Card!

A/N: I just realized I forgot to mention Meilin all throughout the last chapter. Stupid of me. Well, I changed the chapter to put her there now.

A long chapter. That's a good sign…

YAy! I'm on a Crowning Moments of Awesome! By the way, have you been to the TvTropes Crowning Moment of Funny for fanfics (tvtropes. org/ pmwiki/ pmwiki . php/ Funny/ FanFic) page? Just a hint, you know…

* * *

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 27, The Mirror: Cleaning Up The Chamber. Oh, And A Clow Card!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

* * *

Keeper came to visit in the middle of the night the day after the Quidditch Cup fiasco.

Harry tried to slide the window of Ron's room open as quietly as he could, glancing nervously at Ron and the twins sleeping behind him. He hissed at the doppelganger outside the window. "What are you doing here?"

Then he blinked, and the rest of the scene clicked into place for his sleep-fuzzed brain. "Are you _flying?_"

"Floating," Keeper corrected. "'Flying' requires high-speed movement in a direction other than straight down. 'Floating' is remaining fixed in place in midair without apparent support, as opposed to 'hovering' which is to–"

Harry snapped up a hand to the key around his neck, and Keeper suddenly shut up as he found a wand pointed at his face. "It's the middle of the night, and I've had a bad day," Harry said, in a flat, attempting-to-be-reasonable voice as he looked at the other boy with lidded, sleepy eyes. "I'm not in the mood. The point, please?"

Keeper closed his mouth, but apparently wasn't annoyed at having a wand shoved in his face. "We saw what happened and Kero and I decided to cut the trip short," he said, pointing to the Sun Guardian floating off to the side, who was wearing an uncharacteristically serious look and a small shirt that said "Kiss me, I have chocolate" . Their faces look strangely similar as they lean forward to one side of the wand, looking at Harry's face intently. "Are you all right?"

Harry carefully draws back the wand, meticulously setting it in the window sill, which thankfully was wide enough for it. The brief burst of annoyance was dying now, and his senses and reflexes were dulling again as a result. "I'm fine," he said. "Nothing really happened to us. They were too busy torturing some poor muggles."

"Torturing?" Keeper said sharply.

"Well, 'messing with' is a bit too mild and misleading," Harry said, resisting the urge to yawn. He knew that would drop him like a brick. "Mr. Weasley said they'd be fine, though. I suppose that's something."

"Any idea who did it?" Keeper asked, folding his legs to 'sit' in midair.

"Death Eaters," Harry said without thinking, then realizing Keeper probably wouldn't know about–

"Oh," Keeper said, voice going flat and cold and almost inhuman. "_Them_. Of course."

Harry tried to narrow his eyes at him, then changed his mind as they almost slid closed. "You've heard of Death Eaters?"

"Voldemort's personal followers," Keeper said, voice unchanged. "Yes, I've heard of them."

"You sound… pissed," Harry said lamely, unable to think of a good euphemism. "Some sort of history there?"

"Probably the same as yours," Keeper said. "My parents and their friends fought them during the war. Oh, and they've made my sister's life problematic."

Harry, about to say something else, paused with his mouth open. "Your… sister?" he hazarded.

Keeper waved a hand in dismissal. "It's complicated, and you look too sleep-deprived to make sense of it." He made a big show of yawning.

Harry felt the urge to yawn rise up out of him and make itself known before he realized what was happening. His eyes closed, and it was a struggle to try to open them again, to _want_ to open them and keep them open. He fumbled for the sill, hoping to put some of his weight against it, and felt the wand being lifted up. "Kero," he heard almost vaguely, "maybe you better help him get to bed. We'll just talk tomorrow. Um, what should we do with this?"

"Here, give it to me…"

Sleep overtook him.

* * *

The next morning found Harry and Winter sitting at a McDonald's somewhere in London, looking at the stack of pancakes and McMuffin's in front of them. Then across the table, where Keeper was eating at a sedate pace and Kero, whose colors looked strangely washed out, was going at it like it was his last meal ever.

"There are so many thing wrong with this, " Harry said tiredly, before he reached for his knife and began buttering his pancake.

Winter, meanwhile, was looking around at all the people around them, then at Kero, and back again. "Don't they _see_ him?" she said, mouth hanging open until she popped a piece of hashbrown into it.

"Nope," Keeper said. "Not if I don't let them."

"Believe him," Harry said, sighing as he poured some syrup. He could feel the field of strange power that… Keeper… had woven around Keroberos, and knew Kero could feel it as well. He made a couple of delicate slices and speared the result of his fork, popping it into his mouth. It was pretty good. "Was all this really necessary? I have Mirror taking my place again, and you made that weird clone to pass for Winter. You took us all the way here to London. You've been throwing magic around left and right like it was water. Did you really have to do al this just so we could talk?"

"Well, no," Keeper said. "But where's the fun in that?"

Harry stared at him. Then he turned to Winter. "I'm not like that, am i?"

"Well, you used to be…" she said thoughtfully. "But then you became all tense and responsible…"

"Hey!" Harry protested. "I am _not_ tense and responsible!"

"Yes you are," Keeper said.

"Yes you are," Winter said.

"Yes you are," Kero said through a mouthful of food.

"I am NOT!"

"Shh!" Keeper said. "You want to draw attention to yourself?"

Harry resisted the urge to hit him with the plastic tray they'd carried their food on. "You wanted to talk?" he sad patiently. "I seem to remember something about a sister…"

Keeper told them. When he finished, they stared at him.

"Your sister…" Harry said slowly, trying to keep the idea together, "is the daughter of Voldemort…."

"Yes," Keeper said.

"By your mother," Harry pressed.

"No, by that universe' version of Lily Potter," Keeper clarified. "Honestly, is it really so hard to understand? I sorta adopted her."

Harry ignored him, still trying to press on. "Except she was also that universe's version of you– us– because of some weird messed up circumstances involving mom– er, Lily Potter, some Polyjuice, and a botched execution…"

"So she is, at heart, Harry Potter," Keeper finished.

Harry turned to Kero and Winter. "Did you guys get any of that?"

Kero shrugged. Winter was nodding like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Harry sighed, taking another bite.

"You're being all tense again," Winter pointed out.

"Hey, can we go to that ice-cream shop at Diagon Alley afterwards?" Kero asked.

"No," Harry said with finality.

"And responsible," Keeper added.

Harry glared at them. "Well, what's wrong with being responsible?" he demanded.

"Well, you occasionally sound like Percy," Keeper said. Harry looked at him in horror.

* * *

Ginny glanced at Harry in askance. He had cheerfully offered to help her with her chores, seemingly ignoring Winter who sat a little ways off, listlessly looking down at a notebook and occasionally writing something down. That didn't seem like him at all.

On the other hand, he was paying attention to her, and helping her out and occasionally 'accidentally' touching her when he helped her, so she wasn't really complaining…

And Mirror was having a lot of fun being out in the world, taking in the fresh air, doing some good, honest work and teasing the poor Weasley girl. Ginny was a hundred years to young to be a match for her, a mistress of imitation and appearances! And the girl had a _really_ cute blush….

* * *

The beginning of the school year was blessedly, happily normal and tranquil, even with Mad-Eye Moody's dramatic entrance. Harry tried not to take the Blast Ended Skrewts as an omen of things to come. Nope, no sir, no omens here. No, if anything must be an omen, let it be Malfoy getting turned into a ferret for general amusement…

"He turned him into a ferret?" Keeper said, laughing outside the dormitory window. "I wish I'd seen that. Heck, I wish _I'd_ thought of that!"

Harry glared at the empty air beneath his feet. "Couldn't you at least use a broom? It's _creepy_, watching you just standing on nothing. Can't you at least fake a broom?"

Keeper rolled his eyes. "Hey, these midnight meetings aren't exactly easy for me either, you know? It's going to be a pain adjusting to a normal sleep schedule when I go back home."

"Why _are_ you still here?" Harry asked. It had been bothering him for weeks.

"Because I can't go home just yet without time restarting, causing some very awkward questions for some people I know," Keeper said.

"Those 'Guardian' girls who tried to kill you once"

"Yes…?"

"Just making sure."

"Hm…"

Harry sighed, leaning on the window sill and thinking of all those times he'd left the dorm by way of this very window. "There's got to be an easier way to talk. Someone could see you out here… no, I suppose you've got some kind of weird spell keeping you invisible…"

"…"

"Haven't you?"

"You know, you'd _think _I'd think of that…"

Harry hung his head as he felt Keeper belatedly making something with that magic of his. It was unlike the magic(s) he knew and used. His wand just _did_ as he told it to, and it was more or less the same with the Cards, but this… Harry could feel there was effort involved, as if Keeper had to make and form the spell just so each time he made it. That fact he did it so quickly boggled the mind. It was like writing a new book cover to cover in a heartbeat.

At least, that's what it felt like from the outside. Who knew if that was right?

He sighed louder. "Well, we both need our sleep. Good night."

"Night, bro," Keeper said.

It was only later, when he was back in bed and almost asleep, that Harry frowned. Bro?

* * *

"We really need a new hangout," Winter said, leaning back against the tree trunk.

"How so?" Harry said distractedly as he tried to do some writing with one shoulder rubbing up against Winter. On her other side, Lee reading a book, looking likewise distracted. Idly, Harry groped for a rock with his left hand, found one, and threw it in a practiced arc over Winter landing on the far side of Lee's head to bounce away. He kept the smirk on the side of his face away from the two girls as he saw Lee eyeing him in his peripheral vision. He heard the clink of metal that he now knew to be her gun, or possibly one of her knives. Or anything, really. It was disturbingly possible she carried a whole arsenal around with her.

A small part of his mind, a Percy-sounding part, that it probably wasn't a good idea to piss off a girl who carried around lots of bladed weaponry– and other forms of weaponry as well– that she was well-versed in the use of. Harry, mindful of not being all 'tense and responsible', sternly told it to shut up, since Lee was quite clearly not a girl, and thus fair game. Percy-part sighed and went about seeing how it could move to a more survival-oriented mind. It had heard Neville Longbottom was good for that…

"Well, with all the new people and media attention that's going to be brought to Hogwarts because of that tournament," Winter said, "It makes it riskier to go around Card Captoring. Plus Moody's magic eye might see something it shouldn't. I think it sees through walls."

"She's got a point," a voice above them said.

Lee dropped the rock she'd palmed, fumbling her book as her hand dove into her robes– whether for her wand or her gun or her ofuda Harry didn't know– but before she could bring it to bear, a jet of light and a calmly uttered "Expelliarmus" made her robes jump, obviously jerking whatever she'd grabbed right out of her hand.

"Really, is that friendly?" the voice– Keeper– said as he shimmered into visibility, sitting on a low branch. He had that strangely washed-out look caused by that 'selective invisibility' thing he did. "Is that nice? Is that something professor Dumbledore would want you to be getting into the habit of doing?"

Harry cursed himself for not realizing the Other was there. Had he really been that distracted that he hadn't felt the spells he'd put on himself? "Oh, hey Keeper," he said, trying to sound civil. "Why are you here?"

"I was keeping Kero company and decided to see what you guys were doing," he said. "I think I know where you guys can set up shop."

"Oh?" Winter said, arcing her body back to look at Keeper upside-down in a way that did interesting things to her chest. Harry resisted the powerful urge to turn his head and look at her profile. "Where?"

"The Chamber of Secrets," Keeper said, and Harry snapped his head up to stare at him, eyes wide. "If things went the same way here in this world as it did in mine, than that place should be perfect, with only one giant snake corpse to get rid of. Plus, only Card here can open it, so it should be pretty private. Your only problem will be it's in a girl's bathroom. Oh, and moaning Myrtle."

"Oh yeah!" Winter said, turning to Harry. "_You'd_ know where the Chamber of Secrets is, right? I mean, I heard all the rumors a couple of years ago. So it's true?"

Harry glared up at Keeper, half-expecting him to confirm it, but the boy merely smiled, swinging his feet back and forth like he didn't have a care in the world. "Uh, yeah. Ron, Lockhart and I went in to rescue Ron's sister… why are you writing that down?"

Winter had whipped out her notebook and was scribbling furiously. "Are you kidding? As your official Chronicler, I _need_ to know about this stuff! Can you tell me about all those rumors from our first year? There was talk about something between you and Quirell…"

"Your _boyfriend_, Potter?" Lee said insinuatingly.

Harry buffed his nails on his robe. "I, unlike you, am secure in my masculinity and therefore can perfectly ignore such childish jibes. No, he was the Defense professor during our first year. Had Voldemort hiding under his turban at the back of his head. Don't ask."

Lee gave him a long, level look that Harry cheerfully ignored. "I suppose the Chamber _could _be a good place to hide," he mused out loud. "Though it might take some cleaning. How hard can it be?"

* * *

Winter consulted her notebook. "Yes," she said, sounding partly annoyed, partly amused, and partly exasperated. "It's official. Harry _did_ say 'How hard can it be'. You definitely jinxed us."

"You'd think it'd remember about the rat bones, don't you?" Harry said, chagrined and embarrassed.

"And about the slime in the pipe," Lee said, her voice quiet and level and very pissed. "Or all the rocks. Or the damage to that ceiling. Quite lucky it didn't come down on our heads. Oh, and tripping over those snake skins was fun. And–"

"We get the picture!" Kero cried, and found at least three hands covering his mouth, all connected to eyes that glanced nervously up at the ceiling.

Harry and Lee both tried to jerk back their hands when they realized they were actually_ touching_ each other, but unfortunately, Winter's hand was on top. Harry was vaguely disturbed to realize he couldn't tell the texture of the girls' hands apart. He expected Winter's hands to be soft and smooth and Lee's to be rough and callused, but apparently writing a lot can really do a number on your skin. And Lee must buy some kind of moisturizer or whatever it was girls used…

Harry felt very disturbed when they finally pulled their hands away from Kero's mouth.

"Why didn't your brother want to come down here again?" Winter asked as they made their way through the dark, their wands the only sources of light.

"He's not my brother," Harry corrected, irritated. Winter had developed the annoying habit of referring to the boy from another universe like that ever since he'd given that extended genealogy that supposedly conclusively proved, that he, that daughter of Voldemort he'd mention, Harry, and some half-demon superhero in yet _another _universe were all siblings. Harry hadn't been impressed, and looked at the other boy in askance. Winter had taken detailed notes. "He said something about chocolate. For all I know, he's gorging himself on the stuff."

"NO! HE _PROMISED!!!!!_" Kero whined, to more mouth covering, nervous glancing at ceilings and disturbing thoughts about hand softness.

Finally, they made it to the large, snake-carved door that led into the Chamber proper. They found it mainly by smell. There was a strangely sweetish, vomit-like smell in the air that had gotten incrementally stronger as they'd gotten past the collapsed rocks. It reminded Harry of the stink that had spread through Privet drive that time a few years ago, and he'd found a dead rat in one of the vents. When they reached the door, they found it slightly ajar, and quite nauseating.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to open that," Winter said, her sleeve firmly over her nose and mouth. "It smells like something died in there."

"Well, there _is_ a dead Basilisk in there," Lee pointed out, in the process of tying a soaked handkerchief over her own breathing holes. "And it's had a couple of years to get nice and juicy. The lore on Basilisk decay isn't very good, since any time one is killed it's immediately stripped for parts. Some of the things I've read claims that a Basilisk is so inherently poisonous that it's years before deterioration by bacteria becomes an issue, but I'd think it's own stomach acid will get things started just fine. At the very least it's bloated and probably leaking at both ends. "

There was silence. Then…

"Lee…what kind of reading do you do?!?!?" Harry asked incredulously.

"That's… squicky," Winter agreed, obviously wrinkling her nose from more than just the smell. "I think I know why your brother didn't want to come."

"He's _not_ my brother!"

Kero, meanwhile, was gagging and trying to crawl away. The smell was _HORRIBLE!_

* * *

Getting out was an ordeal, even with a broom and The Fly. Harry had no idea how Riddle had planned to get out after he'd killed him and Ginny. Probably ride up in the Basilisk's head or something like that. Though being that close to the lethal eyes would have been dangerous. Unless they had some kind of 'off' switch?

Harry considered the possibly mechanics and pitfalls in having a Basilisk as a pet/weapon as he reached the upper end of the tunnel. It had a hatch on this side as well, again with all the snake carvings. And of course, no doorknob. What had Slytherin's problem been with doorknobs?

Winter pressed closer against his back, obviously nervous of the top of the pipe, causing Harry to lean forward and nearly making the Firebolt do all manner of maneuvers it's not supposed to in a pipe. Harry willed himself not to tense, and hoped Winter couldn't make out his heartbeat, which was being quite excited. And it wasn't the only one, but he was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to make _that_ out.

The light from Lee's wand shone behind them, and he sincerely hoped she'd put her sword away. He should have thought about releasing Light or Glow. Too late now. "Hurry up, Potter," he heard her hiss, trying to keep the echoes of her voice down. "What are you waiting for? Open the damned door! Open it so I can get back to the dorms and take a bath!"

"In a minute!" Harry hissed back. He closed his eyes, extended his senses. A part of him wondered about this. How long had he been able to feel magic like this? It had been so long, and he'd been taking it for granted. He knew it wasn't something he could originally do, but he'd never really thought of it before. When, exactly, had he gone to not feeling a thing to being able to tell people apart by the magic they emanated? Was it part of handling the Cards? A feature of using the Sealing Wand? Or was it something you learned? Lee could do it, and so could Syaoran…

There was no one in the bathroom beyond, not even Myrtle, which was a relief, though not surprising. No one came into Myrtle's bathroom if they could help it, and they'd waited for Myrtle to haunt some other part of the castle before they'd gone down. Sufficient hissing had the entrance open and, when they were through, close.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Harry said as he hurriedly wrapped the invisibility cloak around himself.

"Not really," Winter mused. "We know the place is serviceable. We just have to clean it up. And maybe find a way to _not_ breathe the air down there."

"I think I read about some sort of charm for that," Lee said thoughtfully. "I'll have to check…"

"Did you find it in the same place you read about Basilisk corpses?" Harry asked.

Lee kicked water on the floor at him.

"Hey! Watch the cloak! It's an heirloom!"

"Don't be so tense," Lee chided, smiling widely. Well, showed teeth, anyway.

"I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

"Ah," Winter said, making swooning movements. "Young underlying sexual tension."

"_Will you quit it with insinuating that!?!?!_"

* * *

Keeper was quite cheerfully unhelpful with cleaning out the Chamber, so the three of them had to do it on their own. Between their own lives in their own Houses, all the work the professors were piling up to get them ready to look 'presentable' to the visiting schools, this was quite a challenge. It was not made easier by Moody occasionally cursing him in class.

"Funny," Keeper said as he handed him three enormous boxes of what he claimed was chocolate, with two of the boxes labeled for Keroberos. "I don't remember him being so maniacally curse-happy when I met him."

"You've _met_ Mad-Eye?" Harry said, breathless, though that was from lugging the boxes through the window. "Where?"

"I'd rather not say," Keeper said, handing him more boxes. Harry stared at him, feeling a Cain-like urge to grab a rock and start bashing. Instead, he grabbed his wand, the holly nice and familiar in his hands, and levitated the boxes over to his bed. He hoped he could fit those things under his bed. He supposed Kero could help with that. _Empty_ boxes chocolate don't take up much space, after all. "It might give you information about your future, which would be a big no-no. Why do you think I'm not around much? I don't want to pick up any more information than I can help. Knowing about this Tournament is dangerous enough."

"Why's it dangerous?" Harry asked, shoving one box under the bed experimentally.

"I have no idea, but I'm declaring it is on general principle."

"That's pathetic."

* * *

It was a few days later that they were able to try to get at the Chamber again. Lee had found that Bubble Head Charm ("That is not a name that inspires dignity," Winter commented), while Winter had researched a spell to record sounds ("So that we can get into the Chamber without you," she explained. "Now, talk into this…")

Earthy had been more than able to get the rocks out of the way and reinforce the ceiling to keep it from collapsing. Harry had remembered thinking that the Chamber might have been under the lake. He did not relish the thought of being buried alive under tons of rock and water. No, scratch that, he did not relish the thought of being buried alive, period.

They'd gotten one of Filch's brooms of the non-magical non-flying variety to sweep up the rat bones and such. Harry had wondered how they'd take care of the work, until Lee had sighed, grabbed the broom from his hands, and thrust it at a surprised Earthy, then gave him a challenging look. There had been an infinitely long staring contest while the Clow Card had looked at the broom in her hands in confusion. Then Harry had sighed, demonstrated to Earthy how to use a broom, to much gawking by Keroberos. Then Winter had come over and had shooed Harry away and she'd had a quick word with the Card. There'd been humming at one point, as well as some very quickly exchanged words. They'd left her sweeping up the rat bones, twirling around in circles and singing about how someday her prince would come.

"What?" Winter said innocently as they stared at her.

"_Please_ don't do that again," Harry said as shared icy horror coursed through the two rivals.

"We don't want them getting ideas from Disney," Lee agreed. "The kissing is bad enough. If they start bursting into song…"

There was a pause.

"Well, it might not be that bad, but let's not risk it."

"Oh, come–"

"Win, we're agreeing on something. It's that bad. Let it go."

They put the Bubble Head Charms ("Seriously, who thought up that stupid name?" Harry said) as they got to the closed Chamber door. There was a warm rush out of the Chamber as Harry tugged it open. The poof on the end of Kero's tail seemed to shrivel. Far on the other end of the antechamber, Earthy's singing– which was pretty good, actually– broke off into loud choking and gasping. Harry rushed to cast the Charm on her.

…

The stupidly-named one, not anything else.

Eventually, slightly muffled singing began to echo once more as Harry made his way to them. "You'd think one of use would have thought of that sooner," he said as he stepped into the Chamber, glowing wand held high.

"Careful," Lee said as Winter made to follow him. "The charm should protect us from the smell and any poisonous gasses, but not corrosive ones. We should have worn gloves." She looked down at her legs. "And pants."

"We need some way to air this place," Harry said, looking around and playing his wand-light on all the… well, he supposed it was architecture. "Otherwise there's no point coming down here. There's got to be some sort of ventilation–"

"WOW, THIS PLACE IS HUGE!" Winter cried. Her words echoed all through the space, bouncing back and forth and becoming surreal. Her light darted around excitedly, flitting like a demented firefly. It stopped dead when it reached the large pile of dark flesh Harry had studiously been avoiding looking at. Winter loudly said a word that in another place might be rendered as BLEEP. "HARRY! You killed that thing?"

Harry felt redness trying to rush to his cheeks, and tried to rally his armies of machismo to his aide to drive them back as he readied his forces on another front. "Yeah," he said as offhandedly as he could, making a show of rubbing his elbow as in remembrance. "It was pretty tough. Almost got me for a moment there, it managed to bury a fang through my elbow when I stabbed its brain through it's mouth." It was only just occurring to him how awesome that was now. "Luckily, Fawkes was there to heal me."

"Whoa," Winter said, staring at his arm. "Did it give you any cool Basilisk powers?"

The attempt at a 'moment' deflated like a whoopee cushion. "No, just stabbed my elbow open," Harry said lamely.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt."

Lee was looking at the giant corpse in the light of her own wand, face impassively smooth. Too much so. The light was twitching in her hands.

"Really shows the scope of the power and ability of your competition, doesn't it," Kero said as he hovered next to her, smirking. "Sure you still want to get in his way?"

Without looking, Lee reached out and kinked his tail. He yelped and tried to bite her. His bubble popped.

His anguished screams sent Harry running.

* * *

The first order of business had been to air out everything, or at least try to. Their attempt with Windy was relatively successful, after she stopped gagging from the smell, anyway. The impromptu whirlwind was quite effective at blasting all the air in the Chamber through the pipe and out through whatever ventilation system the Chamber had. It did, however, trigger an argument between Earthy and Windy about how the latter had ruined the former's sweeping, and that it was going to take forever to gather everything up again. It had had fortunately only gotten up to arm-waving and raised voices instead of earthquakes and tornadoes before Harry was able to break them up.

"Tense and responsible," he muttered as he directed them to stop fighting and clean out the antechamber. "Well of _course_ I'm tense and responsible, I have to keep _these_ girls in line…"

He felt the power of a Clow card coming together as he headed back towards the Chamber proper, one of the ones Lee has. It felt vaguely familiar. He only recognized the ones Lee used often, like Shield and Fly and such, but he felt he'd met this one recently. There was a large burst of magic ahead as he went through the large opening.

"See?" he heard Winter saying as he headed closer, and there was a feeling of a spell being kept up. "Told you it'll work!"

"I never doubted _that_," Lee responded as he got closer, and he could see that Winter was spraying the Basilisk with water from her wand. At least, he thought it was water. It seemed to be making it _dissolve_. "It just seems kind of a _waste_. I mean, it's a Basilisk! It's rare, exotic, probably an endangered species, if magical creatures qualify for that. It seems, I don't know… _wrong_, to just turn it into cotton candy and wash it away."

"Hey, we've already cut the head off and taken off as much skin as seemed safe, and all the jars we could make are filled with all the internal organs and random liquids we could handle safely without gloves. If there was anything valuable there, we've got it. So now all we have to do is get rid of the body and all the melty, rotten decomposed stuff. And turning it into cotton candy and hosing it down is the fastest way."

"We could have just turned it to chocolate and gotten that stupid plushie to eat it," Lee pointed out, glancing at where Keroberos was recovering from inhalation.

"That would be unhygienic," Winter sniffed. She turned. "Hey Harry! Great idea, huh?"

Harry kept well back, watching as the wide puddle of water– now sugar water– mixed in with the partly dried waste that the basilisk had released after its sphincters had relaxed, along with the various bodily fluids it's ruptured stomach, and all the "harvesting" the two girls had done. He was fairly certain that would have been Winter's idea, which had some very disturbing implications. There was a large bunch of containers to one side, where the Basilisk's head, several square meters of skin and who knew what else were being kept on ice. An open book hovered beside it all. With a chill of horror, Harry recognized The Create Card. She'd actually talked Lee into using it. That was bad.

He looked back at the now-wet floor of the Chamber, at all the assorted gunk on it, and sighed. He gave the two girls a level look. "Do you two," he said. "Have _any_ idea how hard it is to clean up sugar water mixed with fresh _and_ dried animal waste?"

* * *

They tried Firey first, which had mixed results. While he certainly flash dried the while floor, it left behind a thick gunky coating of sugar. Lee ordered it to up the ante. Liquids boiled, evaporated or ignited, not necessarily in that order. The same thing happened to anything still mostly solid. This, however, had the unfortunate side effect of smelling _really_ bad. Not to mention drastically deplete oxygen.

"And we're back were we started," Harry sighed, staring at the big scorch mark that was the floor as he applied the Looks-Like-There's-A-Fishbowl-On-Your-Head spell to himself, then to Earthy and Windy, who were berating an already covered Firey about making fire in an enclosed space with insufficient ventilation. "I think we better come back some other time. People are probably noticing we've disappeared by now."

"What about the Basilisk parts?" Winter asked. "Create can't stay down here forever."

"I think I can have Snow make enough of the white stuff to last until tomorrow," Harry said, drawing the Card from the holster-mechanism on his arm. "Just make jars for the stuff we don't want to mix with snow…"

They eventually got all the stuff they wanted to keep buried in snow– "And now we have more stuff to clean up," Harry groused– after requisite scene of the newest summoned Clow Card choking on the smell. They took that opportunity to test out if the recording of Harry's voice talking in Parseltongue worked– it did– and exited out of the tunnel into the girl's bathroom, taking off the fishbowl spells on their heads–

– only to choke and gag as the smell hit them. Hastily, they put the spells back on, even as the Clow cards hastily changed back without the requisite humorous kissing scene.

"You know," Lee panted, "I think we forgot something."

"Gee, you think?" Harry snapped, tucking his cards safely away.

"What?" Winter asked. "What did we miss?"

"Cause and effect," Lee said grimly. "All that bad air had to go somewhere. And it went up here."

"And really stunk up the place," a voice said, making them all turn. Keeper closed the door casually behind him, his head also in a bubble of clear air, though it felt different from theirs, magically speaking. More of that weird cold stuff. "Dumbledore has everyone out in the lawn next to the lake while they clear at the place and find out what happened. I took the liberty of making sure you guys weren't missed. It looks like we'll be camping out under the stars again. I don't think anyone's going to notice how you smell, so I can probably sneak you guys in with them. I _really_ hope his doesn't happen _my_ fourth year."

"Then don't go around trying to clean the Chamber of Secrets with whirlwinds," Harry said dryly.

"I'll make a note of it. Shall we?"

* * *

Sleeping under the stars was fun, and Professor Dumbledore seemed to enjoy it immensely, leading several bouts of singing as they sat around for big fires, some roasting hotdogs and marshmallows and in one instance French toast on sticks. There was paranoia and rumor mongering going on, however, as everyone wondered where the smell had come from. Filch was of the loudly vehement and fanatic opinion that it was all the Weasley twins' doing, a belief shared by many people, but without evidence they avoided getting lynched.

The resulting chaos cancelled classes the next day, had everyone helping to air out the castle and get the smell out, and seriously put a cramp in their clean up plans. Kero, on sneaking down, had reported the snow was holding. Some of it had turned into ice.

When classes resumed, people were wildly theorizing about the cause of it all. Some Ravenclaws– and Harry suspected Winter was among them– tried to tell people that Hogwarts was actually secretly sentient, and the smell was it farting. Someone in Hufflepuff claimed this meant the Hogwarts was sitting on a natural gas reserve and could explode at any moment. Hermione had to physically restrained from beating him senseless as she yelled that natural gas was odorless. Everyone stopped telling theories with her nearby after that.

As the arrival of the other foreign schools approached, Harry found himself being lectured by Professors to behave. He thought is was pretty unfair, what with the Weasley twins still being allowed loose, until he heard someone admonishing Lee to be on her best behavior. Then it all started making sense.

"They don't want you two going at each other in public," Hermione said later in the common room when he'd told her about it. "The professors obviously remember the shouting matches you two got into last year… and the first week of school… and yesterday… and this morning… and every day before that…"

"I get the picture," Harry said, and Hermione smiled widely at him.

Ginny passed by, slowing a bit and glancing sideways at Harry, partly warily, partly hopefully, before slumping slightly and moving off when he only smiled at her and nodded a greeting.

"What's with her?" he asked Hermione as Ginny moved off to sit somewhere else, pulling out her homework.

Hermione gave him a strange look, which he vaguely interpreted as "you're kidding me, right?". "Why don't you ask her?" Hermione said in a hinting tone of voice.

"Best not to encourage her," Harry said, sitting down with his own homework and ignoring Hermione as she rolled her eyes.

He went up to the dorm to sleep a few minutes later, making a show of yawning and being tired. He went up quickly, extending his senses ahead of him towards his room, which was currently free of people except for Kero, since it was still relatively early.

"Everything ready?" he asked as soon as he entered the room, locking the door behind him. He reached into the small of his back, where he'd Spellotaped the Clow Book. He'd gotten better at walking around with it back there, and was pretty sure no one even noticed it on him any more. Taking it's Key from around his neck, he unlocked it and drew a Card.

"Yeah," Keroberos said. "The Lee girl sent up Sweet to tell me she's on her way into the Chamber."

Harry nodded as Mirror came into being, coalescing quickly in front of him without any of her 'appearing out of a big mirror' theatrics. "The usual drill," he told her as he went to get his cloak and broom. "You seem to be doing a good job keeping people from suspecting me of anything. Keep it up."

"Thank you master," Mirror said, and Harry had a moment of weirdness as he thought of Keeper. Speaking of which, he wrote a quick note and slapped it under the windowsill in case the other boy came up for a chat and he still wasn't there.

Harry reached under the bed and pulled out some of chocolate Keeper had given him. It _was_ very good. Keroberos had eaten all of his within three hours of getting it and had been bloated for the following day afterwards. He now looked at the chocolate in Harry's hands covetously. He sighed and threw one at the Sun Guardian, who immediately went at it with the intensity of a school of piranha with their teeth on a cow, and gave the rest to Mirror. "Here. Enjoy. Let's go Kero."

Mirror watched her master and superior slip out the window, fading into invisibility except for Harry's injunction for Kero not to get chocolate stains on anything. She tasted the chocolate. It was very good.

Humming to herself, she went downstairs to mess with Ginny…

* * *

Myrtle was crying in her bathroom stall when Harry walked through the wall, as invisible, silent, and immaterial as one of the ghosts, Kero clinging to his broom. The non-working, snake-engraved tap had been left in the 'on' position, Winter's idea of a signal to say if one of them was in the Chamber. Harry phased through the sink, adjusting a little when his head passed through the top of the pipe leading down. He shut off Through, feeling her kiss his forehead before she dissolved into a Card.

The pipe was suspiciously smooth, clean and smelling of fresh lemons. That should have been a clue.

They landed, and Harry stripped off his cloak, tucking it under his shirt. It was wonderful, how it could fit down there without bulging. He slung this Firebolt over his shoulder, heading for the Chamber. The floor was much cleaner now, the thick layer of dust gone to reveal the flagstones underneath. They look like they'd been smoothed out and polished, giving them a nice luster in the dim glow of the antechamber. Where _was_ that light coming from, anyway?

Harry first realized that something was wrong when he saw that the large, vault-like Chamber door had been polished. It might have just been his imagination, but the snakes on it seemed to be all hissing happily. Then he felt the Card.

He grabbed for the Sealing Wand, tossing the Firebolt to Keroberos, who gave a loud yelp and went under its weight, as Harry tugged the door open, forgetting it didn't have things like doorknobs, and yelled at it to open up until his words turned into hissing. The door swung open laboriously, and Harry tugged at it to swing it faster. He slipped through the opening, tugging the Clow Book out of the backpack he was carrying, drawing out The Sword Card. He was just beginning to wonder where he could put the book down and he really needed an easier way to carry it around when he heard the voices and nearly stumbled.

"You missed a spot," Lee said, pointing at a spot on the floor where the bulk of the Basilisk had been. A little figure in glowing pastel colors promptly blasted the spot with a stream of pinkish bubbles, leaving the spot clean, sparkling, and smelling vaguely of lemons.

Harry looked at what was obviously a new Clow Card, since it wasn't one he recognized. Having something try to kill, harm, or highly inconvenience you does wonders for you recall of them. "What's going on here?!" he called out. In a big, echo-y room, this is the best way to get your message across.

Lee looked up, smirking. "Ah, good, you're here. Just in time to Seal my newest minion."

"You're calling them minions now?" Harry shot back, even though he knew it was pretty weak, and probably not enough to be considered a proper 'shot'.

"It's more dignified then calling them vassals," Lee said, looking smug. "What took you so long? Got lost peeking in at some _other_ girl's toilet?"

"Now, no need to get nasty, Lee," Winter said, drawing his attention to her before Harry could say something really loud and nasty. "At least the cleaning's done, and it didn't take all night." She was checking on all the jars and containers the various basilisk parts were stored in, tapping then with her wand as if to see if they'll break. "What do we do with this stuff?"

"Don't you have some sort of plan to use them in?" Lee said as she headed towards the other girl, smirking at Harry over her shoulder as she went, the little Clow Card following. Harry reluctantly tromped after her.

"No. I thought you did? Don't you have some super-ingenious Slytherin plan that involves Basilisk parts?"

"You're mistaking me for some other Slytherin."

Harry leaned towards the little Clow Card. "If you work for me, I'll double whatever she's offering you," he hissed.

The Clow Card smiled up at him, and he felt a small surge of hope. Then her smiled showed teeth.

"That's a no, isn't it?" he said. She nodded. "Darn."

"Wow, this place cleans up good," a voice said from the antechamber, echoing through the space. There were loud, tapping footsteps, as of boot soles on rock. "And you even got the dead Basilisk stink out! Awesome!"

"Oh, now you decide to come down here?" Harry cried whirling around and pointing the Sealing Wand accusingly.

"You know, that thing would look a lot more intimidating if it didn't look like a prop from a magical girl anime," Keeper said lightly. "You guys really need more lighting down here, it feels like the set of a horror movie. And man, I've forgotten how ugly that statue is."

He pointed at the far end of the Chamber, with the enormous stature of Salaazar Slytherin. Everyone turned, looking at it in the dim glow of ambient light from the unidentifiable source.

"Salaazar Slytherin…" Winter mused. "Was he a moor, you think? I mean, with a name like Salaazar…"

"Interestingly, the books about Hogwarts and the Founders never bring it up, even though it makes references to Gryffindor's virility and how good Ravenclaw was at baking cakes," Lee said. "Her strawberry honey-glazed cakes were said to be fit for a king's ransom."

"What kind of books do you _read?_" Harry exclaimed, staring at her.

"Hey, just because _you_ never visit the library for anything but schoolwork and research doesn't mean other people don't!"

"Did the book happen to mention the recipe?" Keeper asked politely.

"Alas, that knowledge is as lost as Ravenclaw's diadem," Winter said.

"_What_ are you doing down here?" Harry persisted, glaring at the other boy. "Shouldn't you be somewhere buying chocolate, or whatever it is you do out there?"

"Your note said you'd be down here," Keeper said reasonably, holding up the little parchment note. "So I thought I'd say hi."

"Hi," Harry said. "Is that all?"

"You're being very rude."

"I just lost to the lesbian. I'm not in a good mood."

"I'M _NOT_ A LESBIAN! I'M STRAIGHT, DARN IT, **_STRAIGHT!_**"

"That's not what your sister says," Keeper chirped.

Harry could almost feel his ears suddenly perk up.

There was the sound of metal as Lee suddenly drew her sword. "What was that about my sister?" she said, deathly still and quiet.

"Oh, I've been talking to her," Keeper said, quite cheerfully as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Quite an interesting girl. Scintillating conversationalist. And not a bad kisser…"

"DIE!"

Harry yelped even though the blade was far away from him as Lee swung, backing on hurriedly as Winter did the same. The silver-haired girl was staring in wide-eyed astonishment, and Harry supposed this was her first object lesson in exactly how violently dangerous Lee could be. After their first meeting, _he'd_ never put anything past her. The incident with the gun in the Hospital Wing had confirmed it.

Keeper dodge back, ice coming up to cover his arm in that icicle-blade-thing as he parried the attack. Harry watched in astonishment as he held his own against the passionately motivated swordswoman. Even to his layman's eye, he could see the Lee was obviously quite skilled and experienced with the weapon she wielded. The few times he'd used Sword confirmed this. Yet Keeper was holding his own against her, and even driving her back a little. Considering the nature of the weapon he was using– a blade literally strapped to his forearm, with none of the range of movement and versatility provided by a freely-moving wrist– that was a sizable accomplishment.

"We've got to stop them!" Winter said as she hurried over to Harry staring at the two with wide eyes. "They'll kill each other!"

"And that's bad why?" Harry asked. Winter elbowed him, frowning up at him. He rolled his eyes, sighing as he put back Sword in the Book and drew out another Card. While he was sure he could make an active effort not to be 'tense', avoiding 'responsible' seemed to be proving difficult.

Keeper and Lee were in the midst of a sword-exchange that would make any Hollywood Blockbuster movie proud, the latter with murder in her eyes, the former smirking, when they were suddenly buried to the waist by a wave of sand that pushed them apart at least twenty feet.

"Thank you," Winter said, speaking more to Sand then to Harry, much to his chagrin.

"I'm not cleaning _that_ up," the new Clow Card minion of Lee said.

"Which one are you again?" Harry asked.

"Guess."

"I will fry you," Lee intoned, glaring at Keeper as she fumbled into her clothes for her ofuda.

"You're pretty violent," Keeper said, seemingly not perturbed by being partially buried in sand. "I like that in a girl."

Lee looked nauseated as her free hand searched through her clothes faster.

She was slightly mollified as he suddenly gave a loud cry before he was completely buried in sand. She struggled to turn, looking at the also-disgusted-looking Card Captor behind her. "That was… appreciated," she said reluctantly.

"Hey, you're not the only one he makes want to throw up," Harry said.

"Did you just kill him?!?!?" Winter cried.

"No, he's alive. If I managed to kill him, I'd be very disappointed."

The sand was suddenly blasted off.

"See?"

"That was rude," Keeper said, glaring at Harry.

"What did I tell you about hitting on Lee?" Harry shot back. "We don't do it. Not in this universe, not in _any_ universe. **_Ever_**!"

"I though you were talking about Syaoran."

"I am not cleaning this up," Lee's new Clow Card minion repeated

Winter looked around, then tucked her pen back in her pocket, closed up her notebook, and grabbed the school broom she'd appropriated and headed out to towards the exit pipe. High weirdness threshold aside, she drew the line at violence.

Keroberos, meanwhile, was still pinned under the broom. He figured it was probably safer than what was going on inside…

* * *

Keeper was gone the next day. It said so quite explicitly in the noted he'd taped to the Chamber door. It wasn't the only thing he left.

"There's nothing fueling them up there," Keroberos said, folding up the oversized sunglasses Winter had lent him and handing them back to their owner. "They're just balls of fire that aren't going out. _Really_ bright balls of fire. I'm still seeing spots."

Harry gently picked up Kero, deciding not to admonishing him for rubbing his eyes and, lacking any place to put him nearby, set him on his head. He looked around, marveling as Winter currently was over the state of the Chamber, though not quite as loudly.

"The Bubbles Card did good work," Lee said, mildly admiring as she spun slowly in place. The vast amount of stonework had been scrubbed clean of centuries of dirt, mildew and moss, their slightly creepy air much muted now by the intense white flames that now burned above the snake-carved columns of the Chamber, which illuminated it to near-industrial levels of brightness. The pockmarks and damage from his fight with the Basilisk two years ago had been repaired, fallen columns repaired. "And I suppose your brother was good for something, Potter."

"He's _not_ my… oh, never mind," Harry sighed, who was also impressed despite himself. Besides the repairs, something, so spell was keeping the temperature of the Chamber relatively warm. A small area not far from the entrance along the Chamber's center line had been decorated. On a very large square of carpet, a coffee table sat flanked by a sofa and some easy chairs and recliners. A few other kinds of tables and chairs had been thrown in as well, along with a couple of shelves stuffed with stuff like Twinkies, chips and cookies, tall stand lamps burning with the same magical fire as the tops of the columns, and even a few lava lamps. Other miscellaneous pieces of furniture such as folding screens, random chairs and carpets, and a ridiculously tall ant farm were scattered about close to the large carpeted area, giving the place an eclectic feel and making Harry think it had just been pulled out of some kind of weird surrealist painting. It was mildly impressive and strangely comfortable looking. "He was busy."

There was a big white box off to one side, out the way and not immediately noticeable despite the shortest line to it and the common-roomy portion being carpeted. It turned out to be some kind of walk-in freezer, the inside tingling with Keeper's cold magic as much as actual cold, containing clearly labeled shelves of all the parts the girls had gutted from the Basilisk. That took up about a third. The rest of it was filled with ice-cream. Harry shut and locked the door before Keroberos could enter, and the three silently agreed he was never to know.

"I'm half-expecting there be a car or airship or something," Lee said. She picked up a lampshade, looking at the light under it.

"This is so COOL!" Winter gushed. "You're brother's the BEST, Harry!"

Harry just sighed and didn't bother correcting her.

A package wrapped in brown paper rested on the central coffee table, with an envelope on top simply addressed to Harry. With the trepidation that comes from having too many bad things heading his way in an envelope with his name on it, Harry opened it.

The first thing that came out was a simplistic diagram that showed how to put on some kind of harness. The note under it said, "Keep harness oiled." The second thing that came out was a list of names, as well as a series of numbers that made no sense to Harry but had Lee's eyebrows making a run for her hairline. The third was a short note.

_Sorry bro, had to go. Hope you like the furniture. Made some of it myself. See you again some time._

_–Harry Potter, Keeper of the Dark Heart_

_P.S. Brace yourself and try not to screw up. No, I'm not prophetic, but knowing our lives, it's a reasonable guess and good advice._

"That was strangely ominous," Winter said, reading over his shoulder. "For, you know, a cold reading. What's in the package?"

It turned out to be harness. Harry recognized the texture of the Basilisk's skin as he stared at it, them compared it to the diagram. If he was reading it right…

"It's a harness to wear the Clow Book on your back!" Winter said, quicker at interpreting. "Aw, isn't that sweet?"

"That's a relief," Harry said. "For a minute, I was scared there…"

* * *

The next day, Harry received a lot of mail. They all came in serious looking envelopes with serious dark inks with a definitely non-wizardly look to them. He opened some of them hesitantly, and blinked. He showed it to Hermione as he quickly gathered the rest and stuffed it in his back, panicked.

Hermione looked at it and frowned. She looked at Harry. "Since when did you own stock?"

_A multiverse away, a Harry Potter whistled innocently to himself…_

Harry just sighed as he gathered up his things. Between all the cleaning he'd done in the Chamber, the dreams about Voldemort and the letter he'd recently gotten about Sirius being back in the country, not to mention all the work being piled on them, it had been a long couple of months. He hoped he could relax during the welcome feast that night. The mood of the day seemed to be on his side…

The next day, his name flew out of the Goblet of Fire.

Yup. The Skrewts had definitely been a bad omen of things to come…

* * *

**- To be continued...**

* * *

A/N: I have no idea if they have pancakes or sausage McMuffins in London's version of McDonald's. Let it go, please.

Huh. I actually managed to resist the temptation to turn Keeper into a girl for no good plot-plausible reason.

Salaazar Slytherin. I've wondered about that. Considering all the bad stuff he, his descendants and names-sake house get up to in canon, the fact his statue is described as resembling a monkey, and his name, one might think Rowling has something against a certain kind of stereotype. I'm not quite sure Slytherin was Caucasian…

Card's not too fond of Keeper, is he? I'd think they'd have a hard time getting along. They think too differently. 'Card' Harry is all about handling the vast magical power he's accumulating circumspectly and responsibly in an effort to prevent chaos, while 'Keeper' Harry's all about messing around because he has no responsibilities and is beholden to no one but himself and whatever he feels like. It's hard to be intimidated by things like Voldemort when you know you can just drop an iceberg on them. I think the poor boy's just looking for a purpose.

It's happened. I did something on my personal Mary-Sue-No-No list that I promised myself long ago I wouldn't do. I gave Harry a private clubhouse. What was I thinking!? It's barely mitigated by the fact it's an established room that was only redecorated, instead of a full-blown Sue-i-fied. And it's still better than a trunk-mansion, as appears in a lot of other places…

The fic seems to have migrated into slightly off-plot waters. Will correct in next chapter…

I am seriously considering a **_Negima_** X **_ Girl Genius_** crossover. In a fight between Agatha Heterodyne and Chao Lingshen, I vote for Chao. She has powers of FANSERVICE! And mad time-traveling kung-fu skills!

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	4. Changes

A/N: I'm beginning to bring Harry's to groups of friends together, since keeping them separated for much longer seems uncharacteristic, considering this is a trying time for Harry. It didn't turn out like I'd hoped. I've pulled a Jim Butcher…

YAY! I'm a Notable TvTropes Referencer, and a member of three sections of the Trope Pantheon! This chapter has been bought to you by: **TvTropes**! Ruining your life since 2004! I still intend to be referenced on as many pages there for as many of my fics as possible! Please help me, as it feels like cheating if I do it myself. I need to catch up with S'Tarkan! TvTrope it, dattebayo!

Hey, everyone! Been busy with my Nanoha/Green Lantern/Negima/every-magical-girl-I-could-get-my-hands-on fic, _**Takamachi Nanoha of 2814 **_recently, as well as my Akane-centric fic, _**Akanema! Magistra Akane Magi!**_. Yes, that last is exactly what it sounds like. Still, you would it really hurt to give it a look? You might be pleasantly surprised. Also the NegiXNanoha fic, _**Overlords and Overkill. **_Check it out and tell me what you think, 'kay? In the meantime, TvTropes it, dattebayo!

...

Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 28, The Maze: Changes

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.

...

When Harry woke up on Sunday morning, it took him a moment to remember why he felt so miserable and tense and worried. Then the memory of the previous night rolled over him. He sat up and ripped back the curtains of his own four-poster, intending to talk to Ron, to force Ron to believe him—only to find that Ron's bed was empty; he had obviously gone down to breakfast.

"Watch it…" a sleepy voice said from the little nest-hammock Kero had made in one of the inside corners of the four-poster. It suddenly occurred to Harry how unsecured that thing was. More than a year of the Sun Guardian secretly sleeping there, and it only now occurred to him that they hadn't done a thing to make sure no one would notice him. Harry belatedly thanked his lucky stars– if he had such things, which he was inclined to doubt– that the Guardian was at least a _quiet_ sleeper.

Harry dressed, hesitating for a moment before trying on the harness Keeper had left him. He'd give the other boy this much credit, it was actually fitted quite well. He wondered how he'd learned to work leather. Slipping the Clow book into the area made for it, Harry went down the spiral stairs to the common room.

The moment he appeared, the people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again. The thought of going down into the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Gryffindors, all treating him like some sort of hero, was not inviting; it was that, however, or stay here and allow himself to be cornered by the Creevey brothers, who were both beckoning frantically to him to join them. He walked resignedly over to the portrait hole, pushed it open, climbed out of it, and found himself face-to-face with Hermione and Winter.

"Hello," Hermione said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin. "We brought you this... Want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," said Harry gratefully.

Winter, who was holding a long loaf of bread that turned out to have been hollowed out and filled with bacon, sausages, and a few other things, peered at him with concern. "How do you feel?"

Harry thought about it, then winced partway through his considerations, sighing heavily.

"That bad, huh?"

Harry made a pitiful sound.

Hermione sighed and wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulders, patting him reassuringly. "There, there. We're here for you." Winter reached over and squeezed his hand reassuringly. It was a mark of his misery that the gesture didn't send him rocketing to the clouds in bliss.

Winter turned towards Hermione, her smile a bit apologetic. "We've never actually been officially introduced. Winter Moon, at your service." She offered her free hand to Hermione.

Hermione juggled the toast until she could properly shake hands with the other girl. "Hermione Granger. Nice to finally meet you. Properly, that is."

"He talks about you a lot," Winter said. "Keeps going on about how 'Hermione would know a spell for this'. It seems to be an article of faith for him."

"Really?" Hermione grinned, before ruffling Harry's hair. "Well, aren't you sweet."

"Toast please?" Harry pleaded. "I thought we were going for a walk?"

Smiling, Hermione handed him one as she led him away from the portrait hole and downstairs. "Why has it taken for long for the two of us to meet up, I wonder?" Hermione said, looking sideways around Harry, who was munching on his toast.

"Harry says you're deviant and a pervert and would be a bad influence on me," Winter said, and Harry winced, recalling that he'd said exactly those words, if a bit out of context. "Which I think is kind of unfair of him. I can be deviant and perverted on my own without bad influences."

Harry choked on his toast.

...

Ron wasn't sure how it had happened. Certainly he didn't think it could conceivably have happened under normal circumstances. But he'd been really pissed at Harry, and he hadn't been watching where he was going, and one thing had led to another…

"Why didn't you tell me, you git!" he cried as he amateurishly but passionately punched the board with the cushion with Harry's face on it, feeling the board shudder slightly with each blow. This had less to do with Ron's skill, which was a lack more than anything else, and more to do with his enthusiasm, of which he had a lot. "You just had to have it all for yourself again, didn't you! It's always about _you!_"

A _very _sloppy, overhead punch punctuated this tirade, and Lee winced despite herself. "Straighten out your arm!" she snapped. "You want to have a broken wrist, you idiot?" The next punch struck with rattling force. "Better."

He'd stormed out after breakfast to get away from everyone talking about last night's results. Had he been a more violent kind of person, he'd have been flinging his wand around randomly blasting flowers and raging at the sky like some kind of villain from a bad novel. However, being raised under the overprotective reign of Molly Weasley wasn't really conducive to that sort of thing, so he'd settled for stomping through flowers and clenching his fists as all sorts of injustices came to a head inside him.

He'd stomped around then lake, then felt like a little daredevil and waded a little way into the woods behind Hagrid's hut. When he'd heard the rhythmic thumping, he'd followed it out of curiousity, having nothing better to do. He'd found Lee in a clearing beating on this self-same board. Contrary to popular belief, not every encounter between Slytherin and Gryffindor House resulted in thermonuclear war. The Slytherin girl had merely looked at him and, beyond a polite nod of acknowledgement, and a blatant readjustment that pointed out she still had her wand on her, had gone back to smacking Harry's face repeatedly.

It had looked fun.

He'd asked. And rather then smirking at him or telling him to…well, any number of things, she'd stepped aside and gestured at him to go at it. He'd pounded at the board, his fists soon aching, with her standing to one side, occasionally speaking a word of correction as he raged on the substitute subject of his turmoil.

He'd been so absorbed in what he was doing, he'd missed the Slytherin's first yell of surprise…

...

They walked by the lake. It was an angst-ridden expository walk, not a romantic holding hands one. Harry felt the universe served him a disproportionate amount of the former and not enough of the latter. None at all, really. He really should write a strongly worded letter to someone.

It was a chilly morning, and they kept moving, munching their toast, as Harry told Hermione and Winter exactly what had happened after he had left the Gryffindor table the night before. To his immense relief, they accepted his story without question.

"Ouch," Winter winced in sympathy as he finished relating the circumstances. "That sucks."

"Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself," Hermione said in agreement. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry... I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's—"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione hesitated.

"Erm... yes... he was at breakfast," she said.

"Does he still think I entered myself?" he asked

"Well... no, I don't think so... not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

Harry eyed her suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Well," Winter said, counting off on her fingers. "You _are_ one of the best known students in the school, on the Quidditch team, are famous in your own right, have a fanclub, is known to have pulled a lot of crazy stunts–"

"WHAT!" Harry exclaimed, turning to her in horror. "Say that again?"

"You're known to have pulled a lot of crazy stunts?" Winter said innocently.

"Before that."

"You're famous in your own right?"

He glared at her, not in the mood. "_After _that!"

"Oh, you have your own fan club?" Winter said.

"Yes!" Harry said. "It's not true, is it? Tell me it's not true. Lie to me, if necessary!"

"Harry," said Hermione patiently, "you're _you!_ And that's sort of Ron's problem. It's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," she added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it... but— well— you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous— he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many...

"Great," said Harry bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it... People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go...life and death situations on a yearly basis… chaos at every turn…"

"Stalking you for photos," Winter provided helpfully. Harry groaned, knowing he should have stopped Collin all those years ago when he'd had the chance.

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or—"

"That's not funny," said Hermione quietly. "That's not funny at all." She looked extremely anxious.

"Harry, I've been thinking—you know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"If you say go to the library and do research, I swear–" Harry began.

Hermione rolled her eyes and bopped him upside the head. "No, Quidditch for brains. I think that maybe you should… tell someone about this. An adult. Someone who can give you sage advice and a more mature perspective on things."

She gave him a significant look, glancing sideways at Winter, and doing the significant look thing again.

"Oh, like your godfather!" Winter said brightly. "He'd be able to give you advice, right?"

Hermione froze. She slowly turned her head to stare at Harry, then at Winter.

The Ravenclaw blinked at her. "What? Is something wrong? Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Harry…?" Hermione said slowly, glaring at him.

He laughed nervously. "Um, Winter knows about Sirius? Did I forget to mention that?"

Winter blinked. "Wait, was I not supposed to know?"

"Harry…" Hermione growled.

Suddenly, a Clow Card appeared.

"Oh, thank god!" Harry said.

"Huh?" Hermione said, surprised by the sudden change in Harry's attitude.

"Huh?" Winter agreed.

Well, technically, it didn't _appear_, per se. He felt it suddenly coming close, moving towards him at a decent rate. He frowned, narrowing his eyes to try an get a fix on it. No, it wasn't moving towards him directly, just getting closer. In fact…

He turned towards the nearest edge of the forest. Something was moving among the trees, amidsts the crash of undergrowth. Lights flickered, and he could feel the spells being cast as they blasted through small bushes and such. It was coming nearer…

"Harry?" Hermione said, sounding nervous. She was looking between him and the woods, licking her lips, her wand in hand.

"Stay behind me, both of you," Harry said, drawing his own wand.

A bush burst apart, and suddenly it was there. The Clow Card, which Harry was only able to identify by feeling, darted quick and low across the ground, on an almost perpendicular angle from them, looking like some kind of generic cute, fuzzy woodland creature. It fairly flew across the ground like a rocket.

Moments later, the underbrush broke again, and Ron leapt out, looking determined and angry, almost certainly swearing in what sounded like another language. He moved awkwardly, unnaturally, but was managing to put on a decent burst of speed as he ran after the Clow Card, the wand in his had flickering with smoothly and expertly in his hand as curse after curse flew at the Clow Card.

"Ron?-!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Ron ignored her, instead looking over his shoulder at Harry. "Move it, Potter!" he snapped. "It's getting away!"

He bounded after the Clow Card while the three stared in shock, disappearing back into the treeline farther down the shore. A moment later, the underbrush broke again, this time less dramatically, and Lee stumbled into view. Unlike Ron, who'd been in school robes, albeit with the sleeves rolled up, she was in wearing a very rumpled olive drab and grey tracksuit, and looked nearly about to burst into tears. Her face was contorted in an almost comical expression of shock, and tears ran down her face. "H-harry? W-what's going on?"

Harry felt his jaw drop as Hermione and Winter stared in confusion. Then he swore and turned to run after Ron. "Stay there!" he cried to the three of them, already fumbling at his neck for his Key.

The Key settled into his hand, the familiar aria rose to his lips, and the red wand was there, a reassuring weight. He reached behind him, and was mildly surprised to feel the Clow Book slide out easily into his hand. The lock popped open with a tap, and he skidded slightly as he slowed, trying to get at the right Card. "_DASH CARD! Jump Card_"

He caught up to Ron in moments, heard the swearing in what he now recognized as Chinese. He over took him, running, leaping and bounding like some kind of ninja and bringing back vivid flashbacks of that time they'd been trapped by The Create Card. He spotted his quarry, and drew the Card he'd picked out before hand. "_Float Card!_"

The Card dissolved in his hands, reforming into a shape that looked vaguely like a hot-air balloon for a moment. Between one step and the next, Harry felt gravity being switched off. He floated for a moment, before the gravity came back on, and he heard Ron stumble and growl behind him. in front of him, the Clow Card floated alone, it's stubby little legs wiggling ineffectually against the air.

"Don't get close to it!" Ron snapped in a tone Harry had recognized with a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Its powers can be contact activated!"

Harry kept a wary distance from the Clow Card as Ron stomped over, eyes narrowed, face carved into a mask of restrained, controlled fury. This was _not_ how Ron usually dealt with fury. The wand in his hands was level and aimed at the Card, though there was a suggestion that it would swing to Harry in a heartbeat if he moved wrong. It wasn't Ron's wand.

"_Lee?-!_" Harry said, not wanting to believe it.

'Ron' rolled his eyes. '"What gave me away?" 'he' snapped sarcastically. "Was it the fact I wasn't acting like a moron?"

"Stuff it," Harry said, leveling both his wands on her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Feeling inadequate are we?"

"What?" he snapped.

She shrugged dismissively, making him wonder what he'd missed, before turning to frown at the Clow Card. "Seal that thing already so I can get out of here. Honestly, how do you boys deal with walking like this?"

"Don't you already know?" Harry shot back. "It probably doesn't have anything you aren't already equipped with."

"Don't make me kick your ass, Potter," Lee growled.

There was a sound behind them, and they both whirled. Winter and Hermione skidded to a stop, 'Lee' between them, apparently too confused to move on her own. Lee snapped another invective, pointing her wand at Hermione. "_Obli–_"

Harry slammed into her at full Dash speed, knocking the wand out of alignment and interrupting the spell, which fizzled out. He bore her to the ground, or tried to, anyway. The initial window of surprise, he soon found himself twisted into a quite uncomfortable position, one arm behind his back, a wand to the back of his neck. His hand was twisted until the Sealing Wand dropped out of his hand. He'd already lost his holly wand sometime when he hit.

"Not as easy as on TV, is it?" Lee said coldly. There was no satisfaction in her voice. What satisfaction was there in manhandling a child? "For the sake of my cousin, who seems to like you for some unfathomable reason, I will allow you to explain yourself."

"_Me?_" Harry managed to gasp out. Was Ron really this freakishly strong? "What's the big idea, trying to Obliviate Hermione?" he demanded.

Lee's eyes flicked to Hermione, still where she was, too surprised at the rapid turn of events to react. Not anymore though. The shock was rapidly dwindling to make room for her straightforwardness

"What are you two doing?" she said, letting 'Lee' go and stomping towards them. "Ron, get off Harry this instant! I don't care what's going on between you two, stop it!"

"Hermione!" 'Lee' cried. "That's not me!"

Hermione blinked, looking at Ron in confusion, and the wand left Harry's neck. Two things happened at once.

"Float!" Harry cried out to the Clow Card still supporting the one they'd followed, just as Lee was about to let out another Memory Charm. Gravity disappeared again, and Harry twisted. The effective weightlessness allowed him to Lee off him, moving with the arm she'd pulled back behind him. She toppled, and the spell went wild, striking a lurking bowtruckle and removing what little memory it had as Harry grabbed randomly with the arm Lee held, managing to grab something. He got his legs under him and pushed off, The Jump Card launching him to the level of the treetops, Lee held in a one-handed grip. They hit the branches, and Harry released her, tossing her into a thick clump as the Float Card suddenly cut out. Lee slammed into them, and managed to grab the branches and secure herself before she fell. Harry landed lightly back on the ground a beat after Lee's wand. He grabbed for his own wands and whirled to point them upwards. "Don't move!" he cried.

Lee went still, hanging from the branches.

"HARRY!" Hermione cried as she and Ron stared at him.

_You knew this day would come,_ a voice that made his insides want to writhe said. _The secrecy is over…_

"Hermione, Ron…" he said slowly, not looking away from the figure who hung from the branches above. "We have to talk…"

...

The explanation was confusing, especially since they had to be given out of order to explain why 'Lee' was so frantic. Winter managed to calm him down by feeding him a bacon on toast sandwich. How she'd managed to keep hold of the food through all that was a mystery Harry didn't bother dwelling on. He explained about how it looked like Ro nand Lee seemed to have switched bodies. Over Hermione's exclamations of impossibilities, he explained about how he had, so long ago, bought what he thought was a book in Diagon Alley. About the forces he had unleashed. About how he and Lee, and later Winter, had secretly been trying to gather them all to contain them for the past year.

Hermione slapped him.

Harry stumbled back, cheek burning. He offered no resistance, knowing that he deserved this outpouring of anger. Hermione had deserved this, and so had he. At least it was over.

Off to the side, Lee, still in Ron's body but back on the ground, made a small smile of grim approval. Ron, still in Lee's body and just finishing his sandwich, gave a start of surprise.

"What were you thinking?-!"Hermione said, sounding barely in control of herself. "Didn't you learn anything from what happened to Ginny? Don't you remember what the diary did to her?-!"

Harry stared at her, one hand raised to a burning cheek. He hadn't even thought of it like that, had never considered… But Hermione was still talking.

"Honestly, you took the word of some suspicious creature you've never heard of, telling you to keep it secret in exchange for granting you power, and you _never_ considered it might have been a trick?" Hermione demanded. "Even after the Basilisk, and everyone who nearly died?-!"

"Hermione, this is different– " Harry said.

"Harry, we need to tell Dumbledore," Hermione said. "We need to tell him _now_!"

"No!" three voices chorused. Lee had stepped toward Hermione, and Harry shot her a warning look. She glared right back, but folded her arms in her robes.

"We can't tell him, Hermione," Harry said. "We can't tell anyone?"

"_WHY?_" Hermione demanded, brandishing the question like a weapon. "Because this creature told you to? Because it said the fate of the world depended on it? Because that's how they do it in all those anime and manga you like? This is real life Harry! You should know by now, magic doesn't automatically make the world better or worse. Magic is just another tool, a dangerous tool. And you're going to stand there and tell me that there are allegedly _things_ loose that can destroy the _country_, and you don't want me to tell Dumbledore? Harry, _think!_"

Silence rang. Everyone stared at Hermione.

Then Lee slowly began to applaud. "Congratulations, Granger. You managed, in one explanation, to fully grasp every important repercussion of this situation. My compliments."

Hermione glared at her. "And you," she hissed. "I thought you were the decent sort, but this! Why?"

"She's a Slytherin, Hermione," Ron said, finally managing to stand beside her. He cast a look between Lee an Harry. "You can't trust them. These two deserve each other."

For once, Winter was silent on her opinion of that.

"You're being rash, Granger," Lee said. "There's no need to tell the Headmaster. At least, not right away. Not until you've fully considered the situation."

"What else is there to consider?" Hermione demanded.

"The possibility that we might be _right,_" Lee said curtly. "Don't you think further thought is needed? Talking to the Headmaster is a final, irreversible step, one you can take at any time."

"You tried to Obliviate me!" Hermione snapped, some of her temper finally showing.

"And you saw Potter's opinion of that," Lee said, dry enough to make Snape proud.

Hermione hesitated, just a moment.

"Hermione, _please_," Harry pleaded. "We _can't_ tell anyone. Can you imagine what would happen if Voldemort, or any of his followers still loose, or even just _Wormtail_ could do if they got hold of the Cards?"

"Dumbledore can keep it," Hermione said. "He can keep it safe."

"And if the Ministry asks for it, Hermione?" Harry pressed. "If they don't trust him with it? Do you honestly trust the Ministry not to misuse it? One of the Cards has the power to utterly erase anything. Not just Vanish, _Erase_ from existence. Do you want to trust that power to the people who kept Sirius in Azkaban? The ones who somehow let my name get snuck into the Goblet?"

"No magic can just _erase_," Hermione said. "It's impossible!"

"As impossible as two people switching bodies?" Lee asked, looking significantly at Ron. "As impossible as the power to stop time? To literally turn back the clock, undoing events, not just travel briefly to the past?"

"No one can do that," Hermione said, sounding once more sure of herself.

Lee gave Harry a look. He sighed and reached for the Clow Book. Hermione stared at it like it was going to bite her. He drew out a Card. "Hermione, take my hand."

She hesitated, but to her credit, didn't step back.

"Hermione," he said. "Ron. _Please._"

Warily, as if ready to leap back at the smallest half-provocation, Hermione took his hand. Winter nudged Ron, who gave her a suspicious look, and reached to grab Hermione's other hand. Lee bent down to pick up some rocks. She tossed them into the air.

"Time Card," Harry whispered, touching Card to Wand.

The world turned yellow… and stopped.

"Don't let go," Harry said. He sounded strained. "This is the hardest thing I can do, and it takes a lot out of me."

Hermione pursed her lips, but began to walk towards something that hung in the air. Ron and Harry trailed behind her, the former not looking at the latter. It was one of the stones Lee had thrown. It hung there, bleached yellow, nothing supporting it, perfectly still. Moving Ron's hand to her shoulder, Hermione drew her wand. "_Finite Incantatem,_" she said.

Nothing happened.

In the spirit of all intellectual pioneers everywhere, Ron moved to the next step. He poked the rock with his free hand. It was utterly immovable.

"I told you," Harry said tiredly. "Time's stopped. Nothing will move here but us and the Clow Cards."

Off to the side, The Float still held the Card that had caused all this prisoner.

Hermione suddenly rounded on him, and Harry nearly let her go. There were tears in her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she said softly. "Winter knows. _Lee_ knows. Why? why them, and not us?"

Harry avoided her eyes. "There was never a good time…"

Ron snorted.

"Either we were busy, or I was busy doing… this… or you and Ron were fighting, and I couldn't tell one of you without telling the other…" Harry flailed.

"Didn't you trust us?" Hermione said, as if he hadn't said anything.

"Herm… I _wanted_ to tell you…" he said.

"So why?" she demanded. Tears or not, her eyes bore into his. He looked away.

"_Look at me when I'm talking to you!_"

Harry's head snapped back. Hermione's face was a rictus, tears still streaming. He met her gaze.

"I didn't want anyone else to know," he said, voice soft. "People… everyone thinks they know _everything_ about me. People know more about my family than I do. I just… I just wanted something that just _mine_… my own little secret."

Hermione's had tightened on his. "Even from us?"

"I would have told you," he said. "When I was ready. Not like this."

Ron snorted. "Aren't you special enough?" he snarled.

Anger rose in Harry. "My parents are_ dead_ Ron. You're my only friends, and the only family I have doesn't want me. You think that's _special_? Because then Sirius is probably special too!"

Ron didn't back down, but he didn't shoot back.

"If you want it, it's yours now too," Harry said. "You know now. Do you feel special, Ron?"

The world flickered around them, and the stillness collapsed. Rocks fell as color rushed back into the world. Ron stumbled back away form him, turning away.

"Please…" Harry said. "Don't tell them. At least think about it. Hear us out."

"You were in Hong Kong this summer," Hermione said. Her eyes looked like they were examining him now. "What really happened?"

Harry hesitated. Then he told them. Above, the sun rose.

"You told us you didn't know," Hermione said.

"Yes."

"You lied to us." Her voice demanded an answer.

His voice was soft. "Yes…" His cheek burned.

But she didn't slap him again. The hurt in her eyes was enough. "So how do we know you're not still lying to us now?"

"You don't," Lee chirped in, sounding self-satisfied for some reason. "But really Granger, he stopped me from trying to Obliviate you twice. Doesn't that imply something?"

"For all I know, you've Obliviated me before," Hermione said.

Lee spread her hands.

"Stop helping me," Harry snapped at her.

"Seal the bloody Change Card so I can get out of here!" Lee snapped back. "You can go back to playing Jerry Springer all you want after that!" There was the clink of metal from her.

Harry glared at her, glanced at Hermione, then turned towards the Card, raising the Sealing Wand high. "Clow Card made by Clow Reed!" Harry cried. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form!" The Wand swung. "_Change Card!_"

Ron and Hermione stepped back as the wind rose, the Card dissolving back into a flat state. The Float collapsed as well, joining its sibling. Harry tucked the Float and Time back in the book. Then he turned and handed Hermione the third Card. "Here. Evidence for if you decide to speak to Dumbledore."

Lee's body blinked, raising its hands up to stare at them, then nodding in satisfaction as Ron suddenly gave a whoop. She then glared at Harry. "You can't decide that, Potter," she snapped.

"I didn't see _you_ doing anything constructive," he snapped back. "I caught the Card fair and square. I decide what to do with it. This is what I've decided."

Hesitantly, Hermione took the Card, staring down at it.

"Just, you know, don't say its name out loud when you're holding it," Harry said.

Her eyes flicked up to him, then back down at the Card.

Lee glared, then rounded on Ron. He gave a start of surprise as she started going through his pockets. "What– ?" he said. "Not again!"

"Taking my things back," Lee snapped, as a flat box, several ofuda, and various metallic things made the transfer from Ron's pockets to under her clothes.

He glared at her in annoyance, but try as he might, he wasn't able to stop her. Instead, he focused his attention on Harry. "Where's mine?" he demanded.

Lee snorted. "Oh, please. You're not going to the Headmaster."

"Oh?" he challenged as the last of the things was taken back and she stepped out of his range. "You're going to Obliviate me too?"

"No," she said. "You're not going to say anything because that'll just make Potter more special. And you wouldn't want that, do you?"

"He's not going to tell because he's Harry's friend," Winter corrected, smiling at Ron. "Isn't that right?"

"Hermione, Ron, I know you two don't have any reason to listen to me now," he said. "But if you ever thought my opinion was worth anything, _please_. Don't tell anyone. Not until you've thought about it."

"Clow Reed is in the library," Lee said brusquely. She seemed to be turning more stable now that she was back in her body. "Look him up. Do the research. See if you don't come to any conclusions."

Ron's face twisted at the notion of research. He turned and stomped off.

Hermione tapped the Card, then slowly tucked it away. "I'll consider it, Harry," she said. Her eyes still weighed him. "I'm not sure I know you anymore."

He nodded. "I understand."

She turned to follow Ron, but paused after a few steps. "Remember to write to… you know," she said, eyes flicking to Lee. "I don't suppose you've told him about _this_ either, but you should tell him about the Goblet."

She walked away.

...

_Dear Sirius,_

_You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes…_

...

No teachers or Ministry officials came swooping down on him later that day, so he supposed Ron and Hermione really _were _thinking it over. He'd have wanted to be alone, but Lee for some reason seemed positively giddy to impose her company on him, and he really couldn't find it in him to tell Winter off.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Lee said, leaning back against the tree overlooking the lake. "We've been lucky. Best it was them and not someone that couldn't be dealt with."

"Lee," Harry said coldly from Winter's other side. "If you ever try to Obliviate my friends, or anyone else again, I will Erase you."

She smirked at him. "After all that talk about not letting that kind of power get into the wrong hands."

"Lee," Winter asked. "_Have _you ever really Obliviated anyone?"

"Would you believe me if a I told you?" she retorted.

"Yes," Winter said, before Harry could give his scathing reply. "You're our friend. We'd believe you."

Lee looked at her sideways, but turned back to staring over the lake. "No, I haven't. Like I've said, we've been lucky. Plus everyone was kind of scared stupid last year, what with a murderer running around loose. Everyone was on lockdown. Fewer witnesses. I doubt it'll be like that this year."

"Oh, joy," Harry muttered sarcastically.

There was silence for a moment.

"So, are either of you going to tell me what happened with the Goblet of Fire or what?"

...

**- To be continued...**

...

A/N: While everyone in Harry Potter has issues, for most part I believe the books handled them fairly reasonably. And everyone who's going to go on about how the Dursleys were violent to Harry and the thing with the frying pan to the head, please note that Unreliable Narrator is in effect, and the fact Harry, the perspective character, was a child could skew the narrative. I've always felt those particular passages were exaggerated for effect to make it easier for the book's at-the-time target demographic to understand how Harry's home life wasn't exactly pleasant. And since Children are apparently Morons, they had to bump it up to Oliver Twist levels. But really, at that age, kids would tend to exaggerate favoritism to an outrageous degree. Something to keep in mind when deciding to treat every line of the early books as completely accurate. Remember, in the later books, Dudley was actually trying to be nice to Harry, but we never saw it because Harry was being all self-absorbed (with good, reason, but still!) what with being in the teen stage and all, and Harry only figured it out in hindsight that for the past two years, after the Dementors, Dudley has actually been treating him well. Harry's narration isn't always accurate. It's a good story-telling device, but absolutely murder on the fan discussions.

I will ignore any comments encouraging me to bash any characters, as I consider those hallmarks of shallow, uncreative minds. For crying out loud, there are sick minds who can conceive all sort of weird ways to hook up Harry with practically anyone, and you can't think of making the, in your opinion, dumb and stupid characters more likeable? Don't infect me with your bigotry! YOU CLEARLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SUBTEXT OF THE STORY!

I originally had no intension of letting Hermione and Ron in one it until the middle of 5th year, where there would be BIG complications, but what the hell. It's not like I can keep to a schedule. Of, the days when I updated this once a week…

For those who will argue about whether Lee was speaking in Cantonese or Mandarin, answer is Harry doesn't know, so he couldn't specify. Really, perspective character and such apply here too.

I am not writing Hermione as a bitch. She's having a perfectly valid reaction.

Please review a lot if you want this updated within the month, while my muse for it is still revived.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


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